Markey Wins $3,000 in Dispute Over Pay

Thousand Oaks City Councilman Michael Markey on Wednesday won a court-ordered $3,000 settlement in the final phase of his legal battle for disability pay from the city of Compton, where he worked as a police officer.

A Los Angeles County workers’ compensation judge ordered Compton to pay the penalty after the city’s representative failed to show up for a second straight court appearance.

“I feel vindicated because it was the principle of the thing,” Markey said afterward. “I could have gone to court and gotten a lot more money, but the money wasn’t the issue.”

Markey had won a settlement last year for disability and retirement pay after suffering back injuries in the 1980s and being shot during the 1992 riots occurring after the Rodney G. King verdict.

The injuries had forced him onto painkillers and into a desk job.

Compton officials later questioned whether Markey could properly work such a job while on medication, and Markey’s doctor soon ordered him to retire after prescribing even stronger painkillers.

That triggered a two-year legal battle as Markey lived off his accumulated vacation pay, while Compton officials refused to honor his disability claim, arguing that he could still work in a limited capacity.

Although the parties settled out of court in December 1997, state workers’ compensation statutes allow a worker to penalize his employer as much as 10% of the total award if the employer refused to honor a claim knowing that it was legitimate. So the councilman pursued the penalty damages to punish the city for refusing for 18 months to honor his claim.

“When an employee doesn’t get paid when he’s supposed to, there’s a lot of hardship,” Markey said.

Compton officials Wednesday declined to comment on the settlement.