A former ISU employee recently brought a lawsuit against the university, claiming he was fired for being a “whistleblower” and speaking out against his supervisors.

On May 29, 2002, Dean Hagen and 10 other food service employees were fired. The university claims the cuts were due to budget issues, but Hagen believes he was fired for cooperating with state auditors and filing complaints against two of his supervisors.

Hagen declined to be interviewed for this article.

Iowa Code specifically prohibits retaliation against whistleblowers and provides for civil suits in cases where a state employee is terminated for providing incriminating evidence to state agencies. Hagen claims he was denied reclassification, a process that gives an employee more responsibility and a pay raise, because of his “whistleblowing” actions.

“This is a breach of contract claim as much as anything else,” said Robert Wright Jr., Hagen’s attorney. “He was told he was being fired because of budget constraints. We believe that the evidence will show that this is not the case.”

The lawsuit, filed Aug. 2, accused the university and five employees of “willful and wanton actions, including threats, intimidation, retaliation, conspiracy, harassment, denial of due process and interference with his employment contract.” It also said that Hagen’s job was filled by a younger employee.

“You can’t just terminate someone’s contract,” Wright said. “You have to show that there’s a reasonable cause. We don’t believe there is one.”

Before he was fired, Wright said that Hagen was in charge of the operation of residence hall convenience stores. He was trying to change the way his superiors were keeping track of the goods sold at the stores, Wright said.

Kathryn Overberg, associate council for Iowa State’s legal department, said she is bound by law in what she can and can’t discuss regarding the matter.

“I can’t go into his confidential personnel history without his consent,” Overberg said. “I can tell you that there was a department reorganization at the time that affected him and others.”

She was unaware of complaints filed by Hagen against his supervisors.

“I think those are things that will have to be flushed out in the litigation,” Overberg said.

Overberg said that Hagen’s job was cut because of budget difficulties that affected others in the department. She also said that Hagen’s statement that his position had later been filled by a younger worker was untrue. The school merged Hagen’s job with another, she said.

Kerry Anderson, Iowa’s assistant attorney general, is working on a plea on Iowa State’s behalf. She said it should be completed within a few weeks. Until then, it would be unfair to discuss the details of Iowa State’s position against the charges, Anderson said.

The lawsuit also claims five current or former ISU employees harassed or discriminated against Hagen during his time at the university.

Stewart Burger, coordinator of special events in the Department of Hotel, Restaurant and Institution Management and coordinator of special events for the president’s office; Carol Petersen, assistant director of residence halls; David Popelka, associate director of Academic Information Technologies; Johnny Pickett, associate vice president in the office of the Vice President of Business and Finance; and Randy Alexander, former director of the department of residence were named in the suit.

In the lawsuit, Hagen seeks compensation for the loss of income and benefits based on the position he was denied by the reclassification committee. He also wants to be reinstated to the position he was denied and two year’s back pay.

Hagen’s pay jumped from $34,750 in the 1999-2000 school year to $36,073 in 2001-2002 — the last year of his employment at Iowa State.