Court finds cement masons union official and attorney retaliated against whistle-blowers

A federal court has found that the leader of a Southern California cement workers union and an attorney for the organization’s trust funds retaliated against two employees who questioned the labor official’s financial practices.

Ruling in a whistle-blower lawsuit brought by the U.S. Labor Department, the court ordered Scott Brain, who heads the Cement Masons Union Local 600, and attorney Melissa Cook permanently barred from any position with the trust funds, which pay for retirement and other benefits for the labor group’s members.

The department alleged that Brain and Cook orchestrated the firing of the trusts’ audit director, Cheryle Robbins, because she complained about Brain’s handling of the funds and cooperated in a long-running criminal investigation of him. The agency accused Brain and Cook of having the second employee, Cory Rice, fired because he made similar complaints about Brain.

“The court’s order should send a clear message that the department will not tolerate retaliation against whistle-blowers,” Assistant Labor Secretary Phyllis C. Borzi said in a statement Monday. “Law enforcement depends upon witnesses feeling safe and protected to report violations to the government and to internal decision-makers.”

An attorney for Brain said his client, who remains business manager of Local 600, did nothing wrong and would appeal the court’s decision. “We’re confident we’ll win,” lawyer Peter Morris said.

The criminal inquiry into Brain is ongoing, a Labor Department official said. No charges have been filed.

Cook, who was an outside attorney for the trusts, did not respond to requests for comment. The court ordered Cook and her firm to return to the trust funds about $61,000 in legal fees that were paid during the episodes involving Robbins and Rice.

In his 71-page ruling, U.S. District Court Judge John Kronstadt concluded that the actions of Brain and Cook violated the whistle-blower protections of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.

The ruling also said Cook had an “apparent conflict of interest” in representing the benefit funds while engaged in a personal relationship with Brain that she did not disclose to other trustees.

Last year, as part of the same case, most of those trustees and an administrative firm for the funds agreed to pay Robbins, Rice and a third employee who was fired, Louise Bansmer, a combined $630,000 in lost wages and damages to settle with the government. Robbins earlier collected $200,000 in a separate, wrongful-termination suit she filed as an individual.

Bansmer is Rice’s mother and worked alongside him. Kronstadt found there was insufficient evidence to show that Brain and Cook retaliated against her.

The judge also determined that the government had failed to prove that another trustee, Jaime Briceno, retaliated against Robbins.

On Monday, Robbins said she hoped the ruling would encourage others in the union to speak up. “Justice prevailed,” she said.

Rice said he was “ecstatic” about the court’s decision.

Citing records that were turned over to investigators, The Times reported in 2013 allegations that Brain supported efforts to place Robbins on leave in 2011 after she complained about millions of dollars in uncollected employer contributions to the trusts.

Later, Robbins was the only employee not retained by the trusts’ administrative firm when the benefits office was reorganized. Rice and Bansmer were fired after Robbins.

Danielle L. Jaberg, a Labor Department attorney in the case, said the ruling “makes clear that people must be able to speak to the government and complain about any concerns they have with trust funds without fear.”

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