The Uintah County Sheriff’s Office has filed a formal discrimination claim against Uintah County. The Notice Of Claim, received by GRAMA request from Uintah County, shows that the focus of the claim made by Sheriff Steve Labrum and current and former employees of the Sheriff’s Office concerns 401k options that Uintah County employees were given but which excluded Sheriff’s Office employees. According to the claim, the Uintah County Commission met in 2004 and approved an optional 401k program for Uintah County employees but excluded the POST certified employees because there was an increase in the required Utah Retirement System rate at that time. The claim states that from 2005 to 2016 the URS rates and optional rates were presented by Clerk/Auditor Mike Wilkins to the Uintah County Commission annually for approval and then from 2017 to the present this practice has not been followed. The Sheriff’s Office emphasized that through all those years, the documentation and presentation of those rates was misleading. Since 2004, some county employees have been receiving a 7.14 percent optional 401k rate and others have been receiving a 6.35 percent rate while all POST certified employees have received a 0 percent rate. “POST certified employees (Deputies) should not have been excluded because of a career choice and required rate that is out of their control,” states the Sheriff’s Office claim. “Having a different vocational skill set than other employees should not determine how much a county employee’s 401k should be.” Finally, the claim references an independent investigation of the situation performed by the Weber County Attorney’s Office and Weber County Clerk/Auditor’s Office, supporting their claim. The Sheriff’s Office concludes the claim by stating that they have not had fair representation because of policy violations and mismanagement. The Sheriff’s Office employees are seeking payment of the 401k funds by the highest percentage that has been provided to other employees as well as the average return rate those funds would have received in an open market.
