10/17/17 – 5:21 A.M.

A lengthy court battle in Putnam County is over. The Lima News reports a judge has ruled the Putnam County Educational Service Center has to pay a former employee more than $16,000 for unpaid vacation days.

Putnam County Administrator Jackson Betscher filed the suit in 2014. He claimed the ESC never paid him for more than 49 vacation days between 2011 and 2013.

Judge John Collier ruled Betscher was a full-time, non-teaching employee of the ESC starting in 1998. In 2011 the agency subcontracted him to the Putnam County Commissioners. Attorney Albin Bauer says the ESC claimed Betscher became a part-time employee for both organizations at that point. However, Collier ruled Betscher was always a full-time employee of the ESC even though they subcontracted him to another job. That made him eligible for vacation benefits.

MORE: Lima News