N.D. Workers’ Comp Support Chief Put on Leave, Banned from Building

A North Dakota workers’ compensation executive who has been placed on paid leave says he expects to lose his job for cooperating with authorities during a probe of the agency.

James Long, 38, chief of support services for the Workforce Safety and Insurance Agency, was placed on leave last Thursday and was told to turn in his keys, laptop and phone.

Long is one of five WSI employees who said they want whistleblower protection for reporting suspected wrongdoing. The requests came after three felony charges were dismissed against Sandy Blunt, the chief executive officer of WSI.

Long said his job involved being in charge of administrative functions as “Sandy’s right-hand man.”

“I believe what I did was ethical, but I don’t know if I’ll be able to pay for groceries now,” Long said Friday. “I knew if I blew the whistle and cooperated with law enforcement, I would be fired.”

Long’s attorney, Tom Tuntland, said his client is being punished as retaliation for cooperating with authorities.

Long said he gave a copy of a journal kept by the agency’s chief spokesman, Mark Armstrong, to the state Bureau of Criminal Investigation.

In the journal, Armstrong, among other things, wrote “Got the secret documents out.” Armstrong said the reference was a joke, aimed at a plan to anonymously distribute documents to reporters to vindicate Blunt and others.

“The journal was not a joke but the reference to the secret documents was a joking reference,” Armstrong said Friday.

Long said he got a copy of the journal from Kay Grinsteinner, the WSI internal audit manager, who also has asked for whistleblower protection. She has said some claims by the agency may have been improperly denied.

Armstrong would not talk about the disciplinary action against Long. But he said, “People are not allowed to go into an office and take things without your permission _ that’s a violation of our conduct policy.

“Removal of property can lead to disciplinary action up to and including termination,” Armstrong said.

Long said he had an obligation to turn over the journal to criminal investigators.

“I looked at it and it looked like there was some criminal stuff in there,” Long said. “I gave BCI a copy.”

Long said the agency employees are allowed by law to have “unbridled and unfettered access to all documents,” including personal correspondence kept on state property or on its computers. Grinsteinner came across Armstrong’s journal while investigating his “possible mishandling of an open records request,” he said.

“It’s State Employee 101: If you have something written down, assume that it will be on the front pages of newspapers,” Long said.

Long said he was notified of his leave by telephone and an e-mail Thursday from a staff attorney for WSI.

In a letter to Long, WSI attorney Tim Wahlin said Long’s effectiveness on the job “has become compromised to the point that we must step back and regroup.”

Wahlin’s letter said WSI “will begin a process of reevaluating your role in an effort to reinstate your services in the most effective manner possible.” It also instructed Long to “make arrangements to turn in your keys, laptop and phone.”

Wahlin, in a statement, said the agency would not comment on the action against Long because it is a personnel matter.

Long, who said he earns “six figures” at WSI, also claims the agency is in shambles.

“The rank-and-file does a good job but the executive staff needs to be cleared out, including myself if that’s what’s needed,” Long said. “The top needs to be ripped off the top of this to fix it.”

Armstrong said the embattled agency has been doing its job.

“I won’t say it doesn’t have some effect on our organization, but the mission of serving injured workers and serving employers of the state is continuing through all of this.

“The storm is there but we’re hoping the storm will pass and we’ll have clear weather to operate,” Armstrong said.