Jeff York, until earlier this year the longtime president and CEO of $1.1 billion CoastHills Credit Union, Lompoc, Calif., on Monday announced through his attorneys he has filed a wrongful termination lawsuit, alleging 16 claims of misconduct against the CU.
The suit, filed July 6, comes a few months after York says he was
Per a statement released Monday by Irvine, Calif.-based law firm Kring & Chung, the impetus for the complaint “stems from the failure of Board Member Kate Griffith’s personal business dealings with CoastHills and her subsequent defamatory public remarks, followed by her proposal to link York’s annual bonus to a personal weight loss goal.”
“Instead of the board of directors taking any action against Griffith following [York’s] and others’ complaints against Griffith, the board acted against York and others, placing him on administrative leave and then terminating him,” the statement reads in part. “The board’s retaliatory actions against York were clearly pretextual as they conducted a series of investigations against York, despite more than a decade of exemplary service which grew the credit union to its present financial health and community status. Their actions are costing CoastHills’ members hundreds of thousands of dollars.”
The statement by Kring & Chung asserts York’s termination was “without cause.”
“Despite comments from CoastHills to the press claiming the termination was ‘for cause’ and for ‘personal matters,’ the official termination documents from CoastHills show that York was terminated ‘at will’ and for ‘no reason.’ In fact, the termination was prior to the end of his contract, violating its term,” the law firm said.
Other former CoastHills executive also files suit
As reported by Credit Union Journal on March 26, York
“Additionally, Dave Upham, executive vice president, Rob Covarrubias, senior vice president, and Linda Van Dyke, administrative assistant, are no longer employed by the credit union and have all made similar complaints against CoastHills with the NCUA and DBO,” the law firm said.
Conflict began during strategic planning session
According to York, in August 2017, during strategic planning sessions, one of CoastHills CU’s board members, Kate Griffith, introduced a proposal to the board that York’s annual bonus should be linked to a weight loss goal. In September 2017, York filed a harassment complaint after, he said, there were “repeated attempts by Ms. Griffith to make the illegal weight loss proposition part of his 2018 goals.”
“It is hard to believe that any intelligent business person could think that such a proposal would be appropriate,” York said to CU Journal in a March interview. “Can you imagine if I was a woman and she was a man?”
According to York, the board discussion of the weight loss clause was preceded by a “reprimand” from the board to Griffith following “disparaging comments she made about York at a public event in Lompoc.”
York said when he filed the harassment complaint, he expected support from other board members.
“Instead, several board members – specifically Kris Andrews, Chuck Scheithauer and Bill Anders, became irate when I consulted with my personal attorney,” York told CU Journal at the time. “I do not know why they became angry, or why they called it ‘lawyering up.’ I do not know what is in the minds of the board members because I have not been able to talk to them since January. Their attorney put them in lockdown.”
In a statement released in March, York said: “The board created a hostile work environment and began a series of retaliatory actions against Mr. York. Part of the retaliation included an investigation of an alleged anonymous complaint sent to federal and state regulators. To date, Mr. York has never seen the alleged complaint, and does not know what it entails or who it involves. Mr. York was placed on paid administrative leave on February 6, after months of investigations, and his contract was terminated ‘without cause’ on March 16.”
York has noted during his 14 years as president and CEO, CoastHills grew from $350 million to $1.1 billion in assets, changed from a federal charter to a state charter, expanded its territory to include the five counties along California’s Central Coast, conducted a merger, expanded its branch network, launched a community foundation and business services program, and helped hundreds of members keep their homes during the recession.
