Nine Internal Revenue Service officers and agents, including the nation's top IRS officer in 1989, are accusing the IRS of illegally tape recording a Pocatello meeting last August.
A lawsuit and demand for jury trial were filed in U.S. District Court in Pocatello Wednesday by attorney Lowell N. Hawkes for James Quam and eight other IRS agents, all from Pocatello.Last April, Quam was selected the top IRS revenue officer in 68 districts in the nation and was given the Michael Dillon Memorial Award during a ceremony in Washington. Revenue officers collect fees for the IRS.
The lawsuit filed Wednesday charges that on Aug. 24, IRS equal employment opportunity committee members secretly taped a meeting they had with the nine plaintiffs after assuring them anything said would be confidential.
Merry Trudeau, an IRS spokeswoman in Boise, said Wednesday that the IRS couldn't comment on the complaint until it is served and can be studied by attorneys.
The complaint says the IRS has refused to return the tape or copies and transcripts to the plaintiffs. It said the agency's own operating manual prohibits all "non-consensual monitoring" of telephone and non-telephone conversations.
The plaintiffs, whose years with the IRS total about 60, are asking that the IRS be required to identify everyone who used the recording and why it was made and that it be ordered to enforce its own rules and take appropriate measures to remedy what happened.