Tuesday the head of the Idaho Department of Labor resigned from his job, effective immediately. Ken Edmunds has faced a handful of scandals while at the helm.
Edmunds was appointed to the position by Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter in 2013. He oversaw a department with 550 employees and took home a paycheck of $125,000 a year.
During his time at Labor, Edmunds faced two lawsuits. In 2015, Don Dew applied for the job of Idaho Human Rights Director. He claimed Edmunds discriminated against him because he is gay and has epilepsy. The Idaho Statesman reports that case was dismissed by a judge because Dew withdrew his application for the job.
A second lawsuit, filed last year, involved a former employee for the department. He claims officials at Labor misused their official subpoena power to look at his phone records and then fired him. That suit is still making its way through federal court.
The Associated Press reports that a spokesman for Governor Otter said the resignation was not because of the whistleblower lawsuit but wouldn’t say why Edmunds resigned.
Earlier this month, the Idaho Legislature audited Edmunds’ department. Investigators found problems with how Labor documented the grants it gave to companies as part of the Workforce Training Development program.
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