Jan 31, 2019 3 min read

The state Supreme Court won’t hear the appeal of a fired Washington County juvenile probation officer who accused former president judge Debbie O’Dell Seneca and other court officials of retaliating against him for reporting alleged corruption within his department.

The court issued a one-sentence order on Tuesday, declining to hear the case of David Scrip, a Monongahela resident whose lawsuit stemmed from his firing in February 2014. In doing so, the court refused to consider reversing a lower appellate court ruling that found that even though the thousands of employees in Pennsylvania’s state court system have a duty to report wrongdoing, they aren’t protected under the Whistleblower Law.

“The Supreme Court may, under its supervisory authority over the Judiciary and without violating the separation of powers, take remedial action when an employee rightfully reports misconduct and is subjected to retaliation,” read the Commonwealth Court’s July 23, 2018, opinion, authored by Judge Kevin Brobson. “As discussed above, such authority, however, does not extend to effectively amending a statute to create a cause of action under the Whistleblower Law or waiving sovereign immunity.”

Months after his firing, Scrip brought his case against O’Dell Seneca; Thomas Jess, the former deputy county court administrator and director of probation services; Daniel Clements, former director of juvenile probation; and the county. He alleged he’d been terminated following 25 years of exemplary work because he’d anonymously reported an alleged conflict of interest involving Clements in 2012.

Scrip alleged that Clements had pressured officers in his department to recommend placing children in the care of Abraxas Youth and Family Services to benefit his girlfriend, whose job was to solicit juvenile placements for Abraxas. He claimed his identity as the person who’d made the report was later leaked to O’Dell Seneca and Jess, touching off a pattern of “pretextual” discipline that culminated in his firing.

Scrip’s lawsuit was first filed in Washington County Court of Common Pleas before being moved to federal court, where portions were dismissed or withdrawn before it was remanded back to state court.

The case relied in part on a code of conduct for judicial employees – which the state Supreme Court approved in 2010 – that explicitly cited the Whistleblower Law.

The Commonwealth Court’s decision upheld an earlier one by Washington County Senior Judge William Nalitz, who dismissed Scrip’s whistleblower claim and another under the state at-will employee doctrine in 2017. Nalitz’s opinion cited a Commonwealth Court opinion from that same year – which related to a lawsuit by another former Washington County court official who sued Washington County court administrator Patrick Grimm – that held the state law doesn’t protect judicial employees.

Nalitz also determined O’Dell Seneca, Jess and Clements were immune from the lawsuit by virtue of their positions.

Scrip’s attorney, Noah Geary, didn’t immediately respond to an inquiry on Wednesday.

None of the defendants remained in their respective positions for long after the alleged chain of events described in the lawsuit.

Clements resigned in October 2014 and later pleaded guilty to criminal charges stemming from allegations he’d kept public money that was ostensibly for a martial arts program and pocketed it instead. O’Dell Seneca retired in January 2015 partway through a 10-year term. A month later, Jess’s position was eliminated.