Topeka ? Eleven state workers were wrongly fined $1 each for accepting free meals, a Shawnee County judge has ruled.

“It is only with 20-20 hindsight that the petitioners’ actions are being questioned,” Shawnee County District Court Judge David E. Bruns wrote in a ruling issued Wednesday. He found that the Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission failed to prove that the workers had intentionally violated the law.

To reduce costs for meetings and conferences, the education department had asked staff members to visit hotels and check into food, room rentals and other costs. None of the employees was a manager or had the authority to enter into contracts for the department.

The employees apparently assumed the department had paid for the lunches they were served during meetings at two Topeka hotels.

The fines ordered in May were the lowest possible under the 1997 state law that prohibits state employees from accepting gifts or meals in connection with their jobs.

The employees’ attorney, Pedro Irigonegaray, asked a judge to review the ethics commission’s decision, saying the issue was ethics “and ethics have a value, which is extremely significant to my clients,”

Donna Voth, general counsel for the ethics commission, said commissioners believed the violation was intentional because the workers knew they weren’t paying for the meals they ate. The education department eventually paid for the lunches.

She said the case was over unless commissioners decided to appeal.

“We are very gratified by the court’s decision,” the workers said in a statement issued Thursday through department spokeswoman Kathy Toelkes. “We feel vindicated by the decision and feel as though our good reputations have been restored. We want to thank Mr. Irigonegaray for supporting us throughout this experience and for his expert legal counsel. We are also grateful for the support we received from our colleagues at the Kansas State Department of Education and many other individuals.”