A federal court lawsuit filed by a former jailer at the Baxter County Detention Center alleges she was sexually assaulted by a fellow employee and ultimately fired because she reported the incident.
Tabatha L. King who worked at the jail beginning in April 2018 until she was terminated April 23, 2021 filed the suit in mid-December last year.
An answer to the King suit was filed Friday on behalf of those named as defendants, including Baxter County Sheriff John Montgomery, Steven Goode, a former sergeant at the sheriff’s office, a number of John Does and the county.
ALLEGED INCIDENT OUTLINED
The lawsuit alleges Goode sexually assaulted King in April 2019 as the pair worked together moving inmate mattresses into a storeroom.
In King’s lawsuit — filed by Mountain Home attorney Paul Bayless — it is claimed that after the assault took place, Goode had told her she had “better keep her mouth shut or there would be consequences.”
King did not immediately report the 2019 incident.
In the defendant’s answer, each and every allegation related to the encounter is denied.
In addition, King claims she was ultimately fired because of negative reports Goode filed after she finally did go to other sheriff’s office staff to report the initial assault and other alleged problems she had encountered in the workplace.
She claims to have reported that Goode was sending her unwanted, sexually explicit pictures of himself. It was further alleged in King’s suit that Goode was sending similar pictures to other female employees.
She alleges Goode’s actions were “permitted and condoned” by the sheriff’s office and Baxter County Sheriff John Montgomery.
The answer filed by an attorney for the defendants either denies the allegations outright or states not enough information is available to either admit or deny certain allegations concerning the claimed photos.
When she was terminated, King says she met with Montgomery, but he refused to discuss her allegations of sexual assault that she claimed led Goode to write negative reports concerning her job performance and ultimately resulted in her firing.
In the answer to the suit, it is admitted Sheriff Montgomery would not discuss certain issues with King, because those issues had to do with the possibility of King filing a federal lawsuit.
EEOC DISMISSAL
King first took her complaint to the Little Rock Area Office of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)
After an investigation, the EEOC dismissed the case. The EEOC refused to pursue King’s case on several grounds.
In a letter to King dated September 2, 2021, an EEOC investigator wrote he had found that the negative evaluation she alleges was written by Goode in retaliation for her reporting what she describes as unwanted sexual activity “was not remarkably unfavorable.”
The notice that King’s EEOC case was being dismissed also makes note of the fact that King had not made any attempt to rebut the negative items that were contained in the evaluation.
In the defendant’s answer to the King lawsuit, it is contended that she went to a high ranked jail administrator and told him she was unhappy that she had not been offered space on the evaluation form to make comments on its contents.
The defendants contend King was offered a chance to rebut any negative information in the evaluation, but did not do so.
The EEOC report states further that King had not been suspended from her job as she had claimed, but rather her access to weapons was “temporarily removed due to safety concerns” on the part of the sheriff’s office staff.
The concern was allegedly based on King’s use of tranquilizers.
As to her termination, the EEOC investigator said he had found King was “discharged following an altercation with a co-worker in which your official statement was inconsistent with the evidence.”
In conclusion, the EEOC investigator wrote that the agency was closing King’s case, because there was insufficient evidence to show a causal relationship between the alleged 2019 incident with Sgt. Goode, the negative evaluation and her eventual termination.
According to the letter, the available evidence did not allow EEOC to conclude there was a violation of the laws enforced by the agency.
The letter of dismissal from EEOC informed King that the agency’s decision did not preclude her from filing suit in federal district court.
In the defendants’ answer, questions are raised about the timing of King’s lawsuit. If a private lawsuit is to be filed, there is a 90-day deadline beginning when she received the letter from EEOC dismissing her case.
The dismissal letter was written Sept. 2, 2021. King’s lawsuit was filed Dec. 15, 2021, which, on the surface, does appear to be beyond the 90-day deadline.
King is seeking relief for a number of reasons, including allegations she suffered from sexual harassment, being in a hostile work environment and retaliation for reporting unwanted sexual activity.
Among other things, King seeks back pay, damages for emotional distress, punitive damages and attorney’s fees and costs.
The defendants have also filed a motion for dismissal citing a number of shortcomings in King’s suit, including a failure to state facts upon which relief can be granted.
The lawsuit will be heard in the Federal District Court for the Western District of Arkansas.
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