Festival Sued By Ex-Employees Claim Seeks $16,480 In Back Wages From Organization Facing Tough Time
The Festival at Sandpoint, rebounding from a $90,000 deficit, now faces a lawsuit from two former employees seeking $16,480 in back wages.
Former festival Executive Director Connie Berghan and fund-raiser Jennifer Leedy filed the claim last week.
They resigned under fire in November, along with two other staffers.
Now Berghan wants about $15,000 and Leedy about $1,300 for wages, mileage expenses, vacation pay and reimbursements for credit card charges.
“I’m disturbed by this and a little unhappy,” said festival President Dave Slaughter. “We have some debts and owe a number of people. We haven’t made any secret about that. And we are paying people slowly and have made payments to Connie and Jennifer.”
The festival received a letter from Berghan and Leedy’s attorney, John Sahlin, earlier this month. Sahlin requested his clients be paid in full within 10 days.
Festival organizers wanted until the end of the month to review the wage claims, saying it was impossible to take action in 10 days.
“I am sure you have been made aware of the financial condition of the Festival at Sandpoint,” wrote festival attorney Ford Elsaesser. “Filing a lawsuit at this time would almost make it a certainty that if any of (the claims) are valid, they would not be able to be paid by the (festival).”
The festival lost $60,000 on last year’s concerts and owes another $30,000 to creditors, including some money to conductor Gunther Schuller.
Slaughter said the festival hoped to settle the matter without legal action, but its request for more time to sort out finances was rejected.
“Make no bones about it, if we owe them money we intend to pay it. We are not going to stiff anyone. That’s not what the festival is about,” he said. “We are going as fast as we can.”
Coldwater Creek, a mail order catalog company based in Sandpoint, pledged $75,000 to the festival if the non-profit organization can raise the same amount in donations.
The money will help pay debts and give the festival some cash for this summer’s concerts, Slaughter said.
“This is frustrating because we were on our way to paying some of these debts before the complaint was filed,” he said.
Berghan was out of town and unavailable for comment.
Leedy, Berghan and the other two staffers quit after disagreements with the board, mainly over whether to move some festival concerts to Kootenai County.
Leedy also was about to be laid off by the board before she resigned. Berghan was paid $937 a week and Leedy earned $562 a week.
The festival is still searching for a permanent executive director and has appointed Jack Alotto, of Boise, as interim director.
, DataTimes