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Last updated on Wednesday, December 27, 2017
(BLOOMFIELD) - Former CEO Brian Sparks is suing the Utilities District of Western Indiana Rural Electric Membership Cooperative for back wages he says weren’t paid when the company terminated him last summer.
The suit was filed Monday, Dec. 18th in Greene County Superior Court.
According to court documents Sparks is asking for a total of $568,260 from the UDWI REMC. Sparks' employment contract allows him to collect 3 years' salary, 36 months of health insurance and the financial equivalent of his unused 1,000 hours of vacation and 1,000 hours sick pay if he's terminated prior to the contract's completion.
When Sparks was terminated on June 30, 2017, his contract was cut short by a little over a year. Doug Childs was named CEO to replace Sparks last month.
The lawsuit states the UDWI REMC agreed to pay Sparks for "...any time worked plus any unused paid-time-off that you have accrued up until the effective date of your termination."
However, Sparks' employee contract states REMC would not have to pay if, as CEO, Sparks had engaged in an "...act or omission of dishonesty, fraud, misrepresentation, conflict of interest, breach of fiduciary duty, or any act of misfeasance, malfeasance or moral turpitude."
UDWI REMC board of directors fired Sparks because he "...did not fulfill management expectations for UDWI." Members of the electric cooperative alleged misconduct and financial mismanagement. The Board of Directors retained an independent accounting firm to perform an internal control audit of UDWI's financial records and the FBI launched its own investigation into UDWI REMC. The FBI has declined to comment on the investigation.
The first phase of the audit can be found herewww.udwiremc.com
The cooperative that serves more than 16,000 members in Clay, Dubois, Daviess, Greene, Knox, Lawrence, Martin, Monroe, Owen, Sullivan and Vigo counties and maintains more than 2,500 miles of lines.
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