A whistleblower who's been on paid leave for nearly three months will know more about his employment status within the next 24 hours, an official said.

John Halvorson, interim executive director of Workforce Safety and Insurance, said the agency is still reviewing the employment status of Jim Long, chief of support services.

"We're continuing to look at the situation, and we will be getting additional information to Mr. Long within the next 24 hours,"Halvorson said. He would not comment further.

Long was put on paid administrative leave in mid-November; he had submitted a whistleblower protection request to the attorney general's office, reporting several perceived violations within the agency, including circumvention of open records requests, human resources issues and inappropriate salary increases.

He later submitted a 26-page document to the North Dakota Highway Patrol, detailing meetings between agency heads and politicians, as well as potential circumvention of open meetings laws, employee preference, defamation and disclosure of confidential information, among other things.

The agency has responded to the document, saying, "Our focus is to move forward. We are confident the remaining outside investigations and reviews will ultimately sort out the facts from the fiction."

WSI legal counsel has sought the advice of the attorney general's office as to their liability were Long to be terminated, according to e-mails obtained by the Tribune.

"Ican assist you in going over the applicable law and how it may play out in litigation should Mr. Long ultimately be terminated and subsequently bring an action in court,"Tag Anderson, assistant attorney general, wrote in an e-mail to Jodi Bjornson, WSIlegal counsel. "The ultimate decision on Mr. Long's continued employment, however, is dependent upon facts and policy decisions that are the responsibility of WSIdecision-makers to make, not this office."

The next nine paragraphs or lines of Anderson's e-mail are blacked out.

Bjornson responded:"We fully understand what your instructed role is in this matter as it has been stated time and time again. Why are you now raising questions that Iunderstand have been discussed with Tim (Wahlin, legal counsel) previously? That being stated, John (Halvorson)has asked that we meet …"

They may have met that day at around 4 p.m., according to the e-mail. All other information was blacked out.

Long, whose salary amounts to $8,500 a month, has asked for reinstatement to his position or clarification of the change in his employment status at least five times. He initially requested the attorney general's office to assist him in reinstatement; the office directed him to ask for reinstatement from his employer.

In early January, Long requested information from WSI regarding his employment status, but received none. He submitted a more detailed request on Monday, including open records requests for e-mail correspondences regarding his employment, meeting notes and even key card swipe and video surveillance records.

Long said the agency should expect a lawsuit if he's fired.

"If I'm terminated, I'm coming at them,"he said. "It's not just damaging me as a person. It's also that somebody has to stand up and try to prove that there is a little bit of rigor behind this whistleblower act."

Five employees of the agency have requested whistleblower protection since October, when then-director Sandy Blunt returned from leave after felony charges against him were dropped.

A state employee is ensured protection under the North Dakota Century Code, chapter 34-11.1, the public employees relations act; the act says an employee may report, without fear of reprisal, in writing to the employee's respective agency head, a state's attorney, the attorney general or an employee organization a job-related violation or misuse of public resources.

Todd Flanagan, formerly of the special investigations unit, was fired in early December; Flanagan filed for protection partially for his role in the investigation that lead to the charges against Blunt.

The day after Flanagan was fired, Blunt was terminated and given a nine-month severance package.

After much prompting from the whistleblowers' attorneys, the attorney general's office directed the North Dakota Highway Patrol to investigate whether those employees were being retaliated against, in violation of the law.

That investigation has since been passed on to Grand Forks State's Attorney Peter Welte for review. Welte said he has yet to review all of the materials.

Long said he was never contacted by the patrol regarding the whistleblower investigation, and Mike Geiermann, attorney for two other whistleblowers, said neither of his clients were interviewed by the patrol.

When asked if this was typical in an investigation into alleged retaliation against employees, Welte said, "… I have been told by the HP that they are awaiting further direction after my review of the materials. Accordingly, I view this matter as an investigation where there is a reasonable possibility of follow-up by law enforcement …"

He went on to say that because the matter was under investigation, he could not comment on any information contained in the investigation.

(Reach reporter Crystal Reid at 250-8261 or at crystal.reid@bismarcktribune.com.)