Commissioners move to closed session after competing testimony in Owens termination dispute

At a hearing, commissioners voted to go into closed session under Iowa Code 21.5 after listening to competing testimony about whether Mister Owens reasonably mitigated lost wages following his separation from Kraft.

The issue reached commissioners after a respondent’s speaker argued that witness testimony and subsequent employment show Owens failed to mitigate his damages. In closing, one speaker said, “Mister Daniels’ testimony. Mister Owens simply chose not to pick up the phone after repeated attempts by his union and contact him to return to work, and mister Owens is in no position to contest mister Daniels’ account with his own self serving testimony.” That speaker recommended limiting any award to six weeks of lost wages, “which for mister Owens totals, $4,164.”

Mister Owens disputed that framing. Owens said, “I disagree… I was lawfully terminated for something really simple,” and testified he needed to search for work and lacked medical coverage after his dismissal. He told the panel, “I had no medical coverage medical coverage to get treatment due to the loss of employment.” Owens also described later work efforts, saying he took a part-time position at Lowe’s in December 2018 because he “no longer could work full time hours.”

The hearing record contains additional disputed details about post‑separation employment. The respondent’s account notes that Owens began work at Berry Plastics on or about 08/17/2018 and that Berry Plastics offered a full‑time position with a wage and shift differential that exceeded his wage at Kraft. The respondent’s speaker said Owens left Berry Plastics after receiving a “last chance agreement” following five absences in a 10‑day span, and argued that the attendance violations undermined Owens’ claim that he would have been able to maintain satisfactory attendance at Kraft.

The respondent’s speaker further described terms of the Berry Plastics last chance agreement as requiring discharge if an employee incurred more than one attendance violation within a 90‑day period during a two‑year term of the agreement; that description was offered as context for disputing Owens’ claim to long‑term lost wages.

After the parties spoke, Commissioner Boyd moved to go into closed session. The clerk called the roll; commissioners recorded affirmative votes from Commissioner Boyd, Commissioner Guster, Commissioner Peterson, Commissioner Transu (recorded in the transcript as Transview/Transu), and Commissioner Holly. At 12:21, the panel entered the closed session “pursuant to Iowa code 21.5,” according to the public record excerpt.

The transcript shows the panel planned to discuss “the payout here or where we’re gonna whatever action we would take in this case” in closed session but does not record any final public decision in the provided excerpt.

The record includes contested factual claims and legal arguments about mitigation of damages, last chance agreements, attendance records, and Owens’ post‑separation work and medical coverage. The commissioners' move to closed session was explicitly tied to deliberations about a potential payout; no final award or return to public session is shown in the supplied transcript.