Ex-deputy sues county over sexual harassment | Information, Sports activities, Jobs
YOUNGSTOWN – A former Mahoning County sheriff’s assistant is suing the department and county officials for alleging she was forced to resign because she opposed the requirement to participate in an undercover sex spike operation and how she was treated afterwards an inmate poured liquid over her.
Canfield’s Angel Feather federal lawsuit denies sexual harassment, gender and disability discrimination, and retaliation. It is demanding that Feather be reinstated, as well as money to compensate her for “physical injuries, physical illness, lost wages, emotional distress and other consequential damages.”
Feather was making $ 17.40 an hour and was working full-time when she last served as a deputy on Feb. 6, 2020, according to a court document issued by Andrew D. Pappert, her co-attorney with Brian D. Spitz vom Spitz – Law, Company was filed in Beachwood.
In response, Kathleen M. Minahan, a Cleveland-based attorney hired to defend the sheriff’s office and commissioners, wrote that the lawsuit was “frivolous and filed in bad faith.”
Minahan also wrote that Feather had voluntarily resigned, failed to “exhaust the administrative resources” before filing the lawsuit, and “some or all” of her claims are “statute barred” by the “statute of limitations”.
Feather first filed the lawsuit in Mahoning County’s Common Pleas Court on April 1. But it was moved to the Akron federal court and assigned to U.S. District Judge Sara Lioi. A conference call was held between the parties last Wednesday.
POSITION AS ‘BAIT’
Feather, who was hired as a deputy on November 1, 2016, was asked by Maj. Jeff Allen in the summer of 2019 “to be bait in a sex-sting operation” posing as a “minor woman”, “according to her lawsuit .
Prior to the stabbing operation, Feather’s lawsuit said Allen had told her to “provide promiscuous photos of herself to be used in the covert trial to attract suspects.” The photos should be either new or older than when she was in middle or high school, the lawsuit says.
The lawsuit states that Detective Anthony Murphy, who was at the meeting with Allen, “objected to Feather not having to provide such photos,” but Allen told Feather that he had two other female officers doing the same thing Asked from photos at a previous sex stitch I got surgeries.
The county’s response confirms that Allen asked Feather to provide current or previous photos of himself “to lure suspects,” that other female officials were asked to do the same, and denies the rest of the allegations.
Feather’s lawsuit also alleges that Allen implied that he wanted to share a hotel room with her and alleged that it was sexual harassment.
Feather retired from work on sex stitch in 2018 and, according to her lawsuit, “missed opportunities to be considered for overtime stitch surgeries.”
LIQUID ATTACK
While on a shift at the county jail on June 30, 2019, Feather said an inmate threw a cup of liquid on her while an outbreak of hepatitis C was occurring in that cell block. The county’s response said it was lukewarm coffee and denies there was a hepatitis C outbreak at the time.
Feather’s lawsuit alleges that her line manager, Gerald D’Angelo, failed to respond to her complaint, so a meeting was held with Maj. William Cappabianca and her union representative, John Tkach, about two weeks after the incident.
During that meeting, “Feather felt that she was being treated as if the assault was her fault,” so according to her complaint, she tried to take a short break and use the toilet in the women’s locker room. She alleges that Cappabianca molested her by yelling at her to come out and then entering the locker room in what her complaint said is sexual harassment and gender discrimination.
The district attorney denies that Cappabianca went into the women’s locker room and instead ordered Feather to come out because she “ducked into the women’s locker room” as he led her and Tkach down a hall to deliver a report write.
Thereafter, the sheriff’s office began “treating Feather less favorably than other similarly situated male employees” due to the incident in the prison, which the lawsuit described as an “assault on the workplace”. A doctor also diagnosed her with post-traumatic stress disorder, which led to “having severe nightmares and panic attacks, even when she was at work,” the lawsuit said.
SICK LEAVE
Around October 2019, Feather took advantage of the Family and Medical Leave Act’s time, and her gun and badge were confiscated about a month later, which she believes happened to non-male officials using FMLA time.
“The county sheriff effectively suspended Feather’s employment in retaliation for filing complaints of gender discrimination in the office,” her lawsuit said. The county’s response denies this claim.
She received permission from her doctor to return to work on January 18, 2020 but, according to her lawsuit, also needed it from an independent external doctor, as requested by the sheriff’s department. The district’s answer said that a doctor’s permit was not required.
The sheriff’s office told Feather to return for a shift on Jan. 24, 2020, but she couldn’t because she didn’t have her badge, gun, or third-party clearance, her lawsuit said. She was told that she would be enrolled for work as a no-show, according to her lawsuit. The county’s response said Feather would get her badge and gun back when she showed up for work.
She returned on February 1, 2020 and her lawsuit says she had a panic attack a day later.
“After returning to work from her FMLA vacation, Feather felt harassed by her co-workers,” and the “county sheriff intended his staff to treat Feather badly to force her to quit.” Feather found that her working conditions were so unusually unfavorable that she was forced to quit, ”according to her complaint on February 6.
The district rejected these claims.
Feder “was not dismissed constructively” and “voluntarily resigned,” claims the district.
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