State Correction Officers Score Big Win In SCOWIS

Two Wisconsin correction officers filed a lawsuit against the state. The gist of the lawsuit was that correction officers should be paid for the time they go through security protocals when arriving at or leaving the worksite.  They filed this as a class action lawsuit on behalf of all of their fellow officers.

The state, naturally is fighting them on both the merits of the case and whether it should be a class action.  The officers lost the class action part in appellate court, but the supreme court corrected this injustice:

In a majority opinion written by Justice Janet Protasiewicz, the Court reversed the appeals court’s decision, stating that to certify a class action lawsuit a judge must determine if the group at issue has a common question without evaluating the answer to that question.

“There is a difference between identifying whether a common question exists and deciding its answer,” Protasiewicz wrote. “A court ‘must walk a balance between evaluating evidence to determine whether a common question exists and predominates, without weighing that evidence to determine whether the plaintiff class will ultimately prevail on the merits.’”

Protasiewicz’s opinion was joined by Justices Ann Walsh Bradley, Rebecca Dallet, Brian Hagedorn and Jill Karofsky. Chief Justice Annette Ziegler wrote a partial concurrence, which was joined by Justice Rebecca Bradley. 

Of course, all this delay and added expense to the taxpayers could have been avoided if Scott Walker and the Republicans had not passed Act 10 so long ago.  This case not only restores some rights for the state correction workers, but also points out the folly and illegality of Act 10 to begin with.