Longtime FCSO employee continues authorized motion in opposition to sheriff, county

May 6 – An 18-year-old Frederick County Sheriff’s Office veteran has until Friday to file an amended complaint in a year-long lawsuit alleging Sheriff Chuck Jenkins and other supervisors of sex discrimination.

Amanda Ensor, a sergeant who has worked in the Frederick County Sheriff’s office for nearly two decades, filed a lawsuit against the agency, county, sheriff and other regulators in May 2020 for allegedly violating her vacation rights and claiming her due to the Had sexually discriminated against. Under the requested relief, Ensor is seeking reinstatement in her previous position, reimbursement, compensation for losses and legal fees. In total, she is looking for more than $ 600,000.

Ensor filed a lawsuit against the parties in May 2020, but in a March 25 order, U.S. District Judge Ellen Hollander dismissed some of Ensor’s claims and granted certain motions by the defendants. Jenkins, in its official capacity, is still facing a count providing for gender discrimination in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Ensor’s complaint focuses on two vacation periods taken under the Family and Sick Leave Act (FMLA). This law allows eligible employees to take unpaid work-protected leave for specific family and medical reasons.

In addition to the county, sheriff’s office, and Jenkins, the lawsuit includes Captain Ronald Hibbard, Captain Jason Null and Lt. Gregory Warner named as plaintiffs, suing them in their individual and official capacity. In her March ruling, Judge Hollander dismissed the charges against the sheriff’s office itself, which the parties do not believe is a separate entity as the county police force is considered an agent of the state.

“The top-down sense of culture pervading FCSO is a discriminatory animus over several protected traits, including sex,” the Ensor complaint read.

She goes on to claim Jenkins doesn’t believe women should be in supervisory positions and speaks derogatory about women.

The story goes on

“Since I understand that this lawsuit is a year old and in litigation, I’ll limit myself to what I can say,” Jenkins told the news post via email. “I categorically deny Sgt. Ensor’s allegations of gender discrimination and retaliation or interference with their use of FMLA in their lawsuit … I also deny Sgt. Ensor’s other allegations against FCSO supervisors and commanders.”

Ensor’s attorney Janice Rockwell said she and her client refused to comment.

Ensor has until Friday to file an amended complaint with the court and has indicated on court records that it intends to do so. The defendants’ responses are due June 4th.

The core of the suit arises from a situation in which, according to their complaint, Ensor took part in the filming of a prank arrest video with local YouTube personalities in September 2018. Ensor suggested that she and two other MPs appear on the video to maintain a positive relationship with the community, the complaint read.

The sheriff’s office criticized her actions and opened an internal investigation into which Ensor was accused of abuse of position / unauthorized use of likeness, neglect of duty and incompetence.

“Sgt. Ensor arranged the video attendance which included a staged arrest using uniformed MPs on duty under Sgt. Ensor and the use of tagged vehicles from the Frederick County Sheriff’s Office,” Jenkins wrote in the email.

Court documents say the video was not pre-approved by the sheriff’s office.

As a result, Ensor was suspended for 15 working days without pay, lost her home vehicle for 30 working days, and was moved from patrol to the judicial services, court documents show.

Jenkins said via email that Ensor maintained the same rank and pay in their reassignment and that Ensor and the other MPs involved are fairly disciplined.

Ensor argues that the discipline was downgraded and discriminatory, citing a case where a male proxy was not punished for participating in another prank arrest. In a lawsuit, the FCSO responded that the male employee’s scenario was “clearly dissimilar”, arguing that he responded to an actual service call and that his encounter was not published online.

Ensor went to surgery two days after the prank video, the files say. In the meantime, the sheriff’s office opened an internal investigation into her conduct.

Ensor was briefed at home about the investigation and said she had been ordered to come to work for an interrogation while on medical leave, according to the lawsuit. The FCSO countered in court documents that Ensor’s legal advisor had offered to invite her to question her.

Ensor then filed a discrimination charge with the United States’ Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in March 2019, which stated in February 2020 that “a review of the evidence available does not violate Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964,” and Ensor was issued a right to sue letter, documents show.

In March 2020, Ensor said goodbye for another operation. She reportedly asked to do “limited service” but her request was denied, allegedly forcing her “to use sick leave to cover free time when she was able to do limited service”.

In her complaint, Ensor pointed out another male colleague who was allegedly allowed to work on restricted duty after an operation. In his email, Jenkins said there were no restricted roles available in the judicial services at this point.

The counts provided by Ensor relate to violations of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, tampering and denial of FMLA services due to transfer / demotion, violations of the Maryland Fair Employment Practices Act, and discrimination / retaliation for taking FMLA vacation .

Follow Mary Grace Keller on Twitter: @MaryGraceKeller