Dear Friends,

This past month, we joined forces with other states in opening an investigation on behalf of Washington consumers into Volkswagen’s emissions workaround.  Our newly formed civil rights unit filed suit to stop the sexual harassment of female employees at an Eastern Washington car dealership, and our consumer protection team put a stop to a phony training scam that was endangering adult family home residents.

Also on the consumer front, restitution is now available for victims of a deceptive marketing scheme used in the online sales of the “Pimsleur Approach” audio language courses. 

We continued our work to promote the transparency and integrity of our state’s election process and also issued the first major rewrite of our online Open Government Resource Manual.

I had the opportunity to visit the Tri-Cities this month, and I recently appeared on TWV’s “Inside Olympia” with host Austin Jenkins for an hour-long interview.

In this issue:

A Spokane-area car salesman and his dealership have a car lot — of problems.  My office filed a lawsuit against salesman Monte L. Masingale and Greenacres Motors — which does business in Airway Heights, Greenacres, and Post Falls, Idaho — for a pattern of sexual harassment against female workers and prospective employees.

Our complaint, filed in Spokane County Superior Court, alleges that Masingale frequently posts help-wanted ads for a secretary in newspapers and on websites like Craigslist.  He targets young women seeking entry-level work, who may not know their rights or how to enforce them.  Once hired, Masingale allegedly routinely sexually harassed these women, driving many to quit. Greenacres Motors was aware of Masingale’s conduct.
 
Individuals who believe that they have been the victims of sexual harassment at Greenacres Motors are encouraged to contact the Attorney General’s Wing Luke Civil Rights Unit at 1-844-323-3864 or by email at civilrights@atg.wa.gov.  We are committed to protecting the right to fair treatment at work, including the right to a workplace free from sexual harassment.

The Spokesman-Review
Greenacres businessman faces sexual discrimination lawsuit from attorney general
 
KREM
Spokane area car dealer faces sexual harassment suit

Our Consumer Protection Division prevailed in a lawsuit against a Pierce County couple who scammed adult group home workers with phony training certificates.  We filed the case against Dennis and Jennifer Lalander and their business Adult Family Home Service Center last year, accusing the couple of selling worthless training packets to 700 caregivers in adult family homes.

In Washington, adult family home employees are required to complete 12 hours of continuing education training every year.  The training, which must be approved by the Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS), helps ensure elderly adults and people with disabilities get proper care.
 
The Lalanders sold training packets, which included pre-signed certificates of completion, for $72 each to caregivers needing to complete their training hours.  However, when caregiver presented the certificates to DSHS, they learned the training was never approved and did not meet the agency’s continuing education requirements.

The Attorney General’s Office enforces the state’s campaign finance disclosure law to ensure free, open and fair elections in Washington state.  We recently filed three separate complaints in Thurston County Superior Court, all involving campaign finance violations
 
We filed a complaint against Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 925 and its political action committee, SEIU 925 PAC for failing to properly report contributions.  In August, my office received a Citizen Action Complaint against the union, which we referred to the Public Disclosure Commission for investigation.  The investigation found the union failed to report nearly $635,000 in monetary donations, as well as in-kind contributions of staff time, office space, postal and Web services, and telephone use.  We filed a similar complaint against SEIU 775 in September.
 
We also filed a complaint against the Freedom Foundation for failing to properly and timely file independent expenditure reports disclosing the value of the legal services it provided to support ballot propositions in the cities of Sequim, Chelan and Shelton, as required under the state’s campaign finance laws.
 
In addition to these three complaints, the Public Disclosure Commission recommended my office pursue appropriate investigative and legal action against Tim Eyman and two political committees under his control for multiple apparent violations of our state’s campaign finance laws.  My office is currently reviewing the matter.
 
My office is committed to working to ensure the transparency necessary for voters to have the information they need to make fully informed decisions.

The Seattle Times 
Attorney General’s Office sues union over campaign-finance laws

The Olympian
Union and opponents accuse each other of violations; AG sues both 

KOMO TV
Tim Eyman investigation in hands of state attorney general

Consumers who believe they were deceived when they purchased language audio courses from the website www.pimsleurapproach.com should file a complaint with the Attorney General’s Office as soon as possible.   
 
My Consumer Protection team sued Internet Order last year for using an illegal “negative option” marketing scheme in the sale of the Pimsleur language courses.  Under terms and conditions hidden in the initial purchase transaction, customers who ordered the $9.95 introductory offer were at risk of being charged hundreds of dollars for additional courses if they did not proactively cancel the transaction.
 
Washington customers are encouraged to file a written complaint before October 31, 2015.  For more information regarding the resolution and how to obtain a refund, please visit www.InternetOrderAGSettlement.com or call 1-877-841-9362.

KOMO News
Online foreign language promoter to pay $1M in consumer deception lawsuit

My office is part of a multistate investigation involving 30 other state Attorneys General who are investigating Volkswagen’s alleged use of “defeat devices” in their TDI Clean Diesel engines to manipulate emissions test results.  Companies cannot cheat on our environmental laws and deceive Washington consumers and get away with it.  I intend to thoroughly investigate this matter and protect the economic and environmental interests of Washington state consumers.

King 5
Washington part of multistate probe of Volkswagen - King 5