EDITOR’S NOTE: Corrects that a jury in a civil lawsuit filed by former Port Angeles Finance Director Yvonne Ziomkowski found in her favor 11-1 that Ziomkowski was subjected to harassment because of her gender while employed by the city and 12-0 that her gender was a motivating factor in the city’s decision to fire her.
PORT ANGELES — A Clallam County Superior Court jury has awarded a former Port Angeles finance director $1.5 million in damages and $113,471 in lost earnings after deciding her termination was prompted by gender discrimination.
The eight-woman, four-man panel determined 11-1 Friday that Yvonne Ziomkowski, 62, was subjected to harassment because of her gender while employed by the city and 12-0 that her gender was a motivating factor when then-City Manager Ken Myers fired her March 15, 2012.
“I feel that finally my name and reputation [have] been restored,” Ziomkowski said.
The jury’s verdict brought Ziomkowski to tears, she said later Friday, adding she was “still shaking.”
Ziomkowski, a Polish woman who fled communism with her husband and young children in her 20s, said she has isolated herself at her home for the past four years.
“I stopped doing anything,” she said. “I just wanted to die.
“Now I will start living again. ”
Considering appeal
City Attorney Bill Bloor said Friday afternoon that the city is evaluating the pros and cons of an appeal, which must be filed within 30 days of a judgment being entered.
City Manager Dan McKeen will not be in his office until April 21, according to his voice mail.
“The city is disappointed in the decision,” said Abbi Fountain, human resources manager.
“We are taking some time to review the decision and evaluate our options.”
Bloor, Fountain and city Finance Director Byron Olson would not comment Friday on how the city would pay the judgment if it comes to that.
The jury began deliberations Friday at 9 a.m. in the three-week civil trial, which included 174 exhibits and lengthy testimony from Ziomkowski, before announcing its decision just hours later, shortly before noon.
At least 10 of 12 jurors were required to decide a verdict based on the preponderance of evidence, not on the higher standard of being beyond a reasonable doubt required in criminal trials.
Two of three jurors whose phone numbers were available did not return calls for comment.
The third juror, who said he voted against the majority, refused to comment.
Send city a message
Port Angeles attorney Karen Unger had called for the jury to award Ziomkowski damages equal to $100 or $200 a day for 25 years, saying it was needed to send the city a message that City Hall’s male-dominated culture must change.
“This is the only way you can put a stop to this stuff,” Unger said.
In making its decision, the jury decided Ziomkowski’s gender was “a significant motivating factor” in her termination and that she was “subjected to harassment” because of her gender while a city employee.
In selecting $1.5 million for noneconomic damages, the jury decided on an amount equal to $164 a day for 25 years.
The damages cover emotional distress, humiliation, mental anguish, pain and suffering, and embarrassment as alleged in Ziomkowski’s lawsuit against the city.
The economic damages were lost earnings of $113,471.
Ziomkowski was terminated for cashing out — and putting into her retirement account — what the State Patrol had said in an investigation was $28,674 in general leave without Myers’ authorization.
Ziomkowski paid the money back — but the city returned it to her when she was dismissed, it came out during the trial.
“She got all the money back that they said she took wrongfully,” Unger said.
Unger argued that other city department heads including McKeen — who then was fire chief and now is city manager — and Police Chief Terry Gallagher, now retired, had violated city policy in also cashing out their general leave.
But, Unger said, they did not suffer the retribution her client did.
Ziomkowski, a 23-year city employee, was singled out for being a strong-willed, competent woman in the man’s world that was City Hall, where she was marginalized and belittled, and the cash-out issue was a pretext for getting rid of her, Unger said.
Seattle lawyer Shannon Ragonesi, representing the city, had said Ziomkowski knew what she was doing when she violated city policy.
Professional disagreements
Ragonesi said Ziomkowski’s disagreements with other city managers were professional, not gender-based.
Off-color comments Ziomkowski said were directed at her, such as former Public Works Director Glenn Cutler saying she looked like “a working girl” in a photo, did not rise to the legal standard for sex discrimination, Ragonesi said.
Ragonesi — who was hired through the Washington Cities Insurance Authority, a municipal risk pool — did not return calls Friday for comment.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 55650, or at pgottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
