Jury Awards $1M to Fired State Worker for His Whistleblower Lawsuit Against the Alcoholic Beverages Division

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Todd Halbur, a republican running for State Auditor of Iowa has won his wrongful termination case against the state’s exclusive liquor wholesaler. The Polk County jury has awarded Halbur $1 million for his whistleblower lawsuit. 

Halbur filed the whistleblower lawsuit back in December 2019 against the state of Iowa, the Iowa Alcoholic Beverages Division (ABD) and its administrator, Stephen Larson. On Oct.7, a jury awarded Halbur $487,500 in back pay and $512,500 for emotional distress following the five-day trial.

 The Alcoholic Beverages Division controls the wholesaling of all liquor and wine in the state of Iowa. The division also regulates and licenses establishments that sell alcoholic beverages. Iowa is one of a handful of states that directly controls the sale and distribution of alcoholic beverages. 

Halbur’s lawsuit indicates that he was demoted and consequently fired in 2018 for raising questions about excessive price markups and payments made under a no-bid contract. He initially started working for the state agency in 2015 as an accountant/controller. His responsibilities included overseeing the ABD’s operations, involving advising agency administrators and chief operating officers on account management. 

As reported by The Gazette, Halbur disclosed that he uncovered excessive liquor markups by the state agency in 2017, and alleged Larson knew about the markups from the beginning of 2014 but “did nothing to prevent this continued practice.” Halbur said he encouraged Larson to report the excessive markups to state officials and agencies.

Halbur argued one of the reasons he was fired involved his refusal to sign off on a contract Larson had entered into with Beverage Merchandising Inc around 2017. An initial payment was made in November 2017 for services already rendered. However, Halbur explained that when Larson sought an additional payment, Halbur felt obligated by the law to refuse to sign the agreement. Court documents state Halbur was “citing Iowa’s requirement for having a competitive bidding process for third-party vendors.”

Halbur claimed he was demoted and then subsequently fired two weeks later after complaining internally about and his refusal to “engage in illegal practices occurring within the ABD.” 

Larson denied any actions were unlawful. According to the Gazette, Larson claimed in court filings that the pricing changes and other information that Halbur divulged  “was already widely known throughout ABD” and that Halbur was fired for ”ongoing performance issues related to personnel and staffing management.“

The Gazette reported  that Halbur said he “stood up for what was right” and “paid the ultimate price for it.” He continued, “I feel that I’ve been vindicated from the jury’s decision and I thank them,” he said.

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