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News
Sheriff's dept. facing harassment suits : News : Oswego Ledger-Sentinel : Hometown Newspaper for Oswego and Montgomery, IllinoisSheriff's dept. facing harassment suits
| Former female employees allege verbal, physical abuse by male supervisors
| by Kathy Farren
| 12/13/2012
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Lawsuits have been filed by two former Kendall County Sheriff's Department employees claiming sexual harassment by male supervisors and co-workers.
The suits were filed Nov. 19 in United States District Court, Northern District of Illinois Eastern Division in Chicago, and name the County of Kendall and County of Kendall Sheriff's Department.
In the suits, Nichole Porus and Amber M. Christoffel Slaughter say they performed their jobs as Sheriff's deputies and correctional officers satisfactorily.
Porus' lawsuit says she was employed by the department from Dec. 20, 2004 until she was terminated on June 12, 2009. Slaughter's suit says she was employed from Feb. 1, 2007 until she was forced to resign, but doesn't list her last date of employment.
Both women's suits say they were forced to change in and out of uniform in a coed locker room where male officers would walk in and undress in front of them.
Slaughter's suit says that male employees made comments about her underwear and tattoo. She also charges she was told by a male supervisor, who is not named, that she would have to have sexual relations to get to the top in the department.
The suit says Slaughter complained but the defendants "retaliated against Plaintiff's complaints about her work environment by forcing her to resign her position."
Porus' suit says a male supervisor, who is not named, would "grab her, squeeze her and lift her without warning and without consent." It also says a male supervisor asked for a private meeting and then asked her to go to a hotel with him. Both women said they received sexually explicit emails at work.
Porus says that the defendants "retaliated against Plaintiff's complaints about her work environment by making false claims of insubordination and ultimately terminating her employment."
Both women had previously filed charges of sexual harassment with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).
According to Kendall County State's Attorney Eric Weis, the EEOC investigates such charges and, in most instances, closes the case and issues a "right to sue" letter to the complainants. Weis said such a letter would indicate that the EEOC was not going to sue on behalf of the complainants.
Both lawsuits note that the women filed the charges with the EEOC and that their lawsuits were filed within 90 days of receipt of the EEOC findings.
Both Porus and Slaughter are seeking compensatory and other damages, to be determined by a jury, as well as lost wages and attorney's fees and costs.
They also ask that the county and Sheriff's Department implement a "'zero tolerance' policy that forbids sexual harassment in the workplace and encourages victims to report sexual harassment to the appropriate state and federal administrative agencies."
Both women are represented by Martin J. Lucas of the Chicago law firm of O'Connor and Nakos, Ltd.
Weis said the case will be turned over to the county's insurance firm for defense. He estimated that, with likely procedural steps and motions, it could take a couple of years for the case to reach a jury.
Sheriff Richard Randall said Tuesday that he couldn't say anything about the suits since they are pending litigation.
In May 2010, the County Board voted to settle a sexual harassment lawsuit filed against the Kendall County Sheriff's Department and former Chief Deputy Terry Tichava for $188,000.
In that suit, Lisa Easi alleged that Tichava sexually harassed her when she was employed as a secretary in the Sheriff's Office. Easi also says in the suit that she was fired after she complained to management and filed a discrimination charge with the Equal Opportunity Commissioner against Tichava alleging sexual harassment.
Tichava retired in November 2010.
Weis explained then that the County Board would be responsible for paying the $10,000 deductible to their insurance company and the insurance company would pay the remainder of the settlement.
That lawsuit was in the pre-trial phase when it was settled. Weis said it was settled with no admission of liability on either party.
The settlement agreement approved by the County Board shows that the $188,000 award would be broken into three payments of which $96,400 was to go to Easi "for alleged non-wage, compensatory damages primarily for alleged physical injuries" related to the sexual harassment charges.
Another $81,600 was to go to Easi's attorneys, and a check for $10,000 was to be made out to Easi for "alleged non-wage, compensatory damages" for discrimination based on sex.
The original complaint filed by Easi's attorneys asked for $600,000 for the alleged harassment and discrimination.
The county's insurance company, Claims One, paid out an additional $193,000 in attorney's fees defending Tichava and the county, according to Weis, bringing the total paid out by the county and the insurance company for that case to over $380,000.
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