Fired firefighter who won reinstatement sues Clark County

Donald Munn is back to work. Now he wants to clear his name.

The Clark County firefighter became the face for alleged sick leave abuse when he was fired last year. He is suing his employer and seeking damages for defamation, violations of the Family Medical Leave Act, a violation of his due process rights, invasion of privacy and negligence.

But county officials say they will aggressively fight the lawsuit filed Wednesday by Munn's attorney, Andrew Rempfer.

"They needed a face," Munn said. "I can't see any other reason for doing it."

The lawsuit came shortly after an arbitrator ruled that Munn was to be reinstated and paid the year's worth of salary and benefits he would have earned had he not been fired.

"This isn't over because he's been reinstated," Rempfer said. "Don's reputation suffered severely. ...The public needs to know the facts. Putting it in an arbitration brief is a small audience. Getting the word out there that Don didn't do the things the county alleged is important."

Munn, 58, an 18-year veteran of the department, has light administrative duties because of a back injury he suffered on the job in 2010. He said he followed the rules for taking time off to help his wife care for their adopted son, Brian, who has developmental issues caused by fetal alcohol syndrome.

While the lawsuit is directed at the County Commission as a whole, the litigation singles out Commissioner Steve Sisolak, who led the charge against sick leave abuse.

Rempfer called Sisolak's actions "bureaucratic arrogance."

"Don was a political puppet, he was the poster boy," Rempfer said. "He's the embodiment of what Sisolak tried to campaign on. (Sisolak) was carrying this flag politically to malign the entire Fire Department and continued to do so even after the arbitrator's decision came out."

Rempfer said anyone in his client's situation would be frustrated.

"The county could have made the same point without using Don's name," he said. "They did it to gain political leverage over the union, and it backfired horribly."

Sisolak fired back, saying the lawsuit "is frivolous on its face."

"I think the emails, which are public information, clearly speak for themselves," Sisolak said.

"The county will move promptly to dismiss the lawsuit and file any mandatory counterclaims arising as a result of the baseless charges," he said.

County officials released emails they thought pointed to evidence of abuse.

Munn emailed colleagues in June 2010 about his plans to leave for the summer using sick leave and vacation time. The co-worker asked how someone can get the entire summer off.

"Between being sick & vac it will seem like most of the summer," replied Munn, who had used 333 hours of sick leave in 2009.

A county audit of sick leave usage included emails among firefighters, which appeared to show some scheduling sick time in advance.

If one firefighter called in sick, another could fill in and receive overtime, which is worth 1.5 times regular pay, or call-back pay, worth overtime and a retirement account payment.

In 2010, firefighters averaged $130,000 in annual wages and $58,000 in benefits. Battalion chiefs averaged $183,000 in wages and $81,000 in benefits. Rank-and-file county employees averaged $60,000 in wages and $30,000 in benefits.

A Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce study found that the state's public workers were the ninth-highest paid nationwide, receiving an average annual pay of $56,872 in 2009. That was
13 percent higher than the national average of $50,187. But the study found that Nevada ranked last in the number of public workers per capita, with 43.6 for every 1,000 residents in 2009.

Munn was one of two firefighters who lost their jobs after an internal county investigation into sick leave abuse. The case of Renee Dillingham, a former battalion chief, is still being reviewed by an arbitrator.

The lawsuit seeks punitive damages in excess of $10,000 for each complaint. But Munn said it's not about the money.

"Win or lose I'm happy I've got my job back," Munn said. "If the rest of it works out, great. If they award me $1, they're still finding in my favor and that clears my name. Do I expect to retire and move into the top floor of the Wynn? No."