A former employee of the Oxford County Sheriff’s Office is suing the sheriff, who is up for reelection, alleging he violated her rights when he tried to fire her for criticizing him and reporting misconduct in the agency.
Joan Kelly, the former sheriff’s clerk, submitted the legal complaint to Oxford County Superior Court in August against Oxford County Sheriff Christopher Wainwright, Chief Deputy James Urquhart, the Oxford County Sheriff’s Office and Oxford County.
The lawsuit says the defendants violated Kelly’s First Amendment right to free speech when they tried to prevent her from attending county commissioners meetings where she had brought up concerns about the operations of the sheriff’s office.
It also says Wainwright tried to fire Kelly after she disrespected him, though the sheriff hadn’t disciplined male employees who confronted him, and that her attempted firing was actually retaliation for reporting her concerns.
In addition to sex discrimination, violations of her rights to free speech and whistleblower protections, she is alleging the county defamed her and violated her 14th Amendment right to equal protection under the laws and due process.
Peter Marchesi, the attorney representing Oxford County, disputed the allegations and said he looks forward “to a successful outcome of the case.” Wainwright declined to answer questions about the allegations, calling them a personnel matter.
“However, I will say that I will continue to hold all county staff and personnel accountable for any acts of misconduct,” Wainwright said.
Wainwright, a Republican, is facing Lt. Justin Brown, an independent and longtime officer with the county, in the Nov. 8 election.
Dec. 6, 2019, marked a tipping point for Kelly and Wainwright, according to her lawsuit. On that day, after trying to get the sheriff to attend to a “pressing issue” with a member of the public, Kelly asked Wainwright if he “does anything,” the complaint states.
“The sheriff was very angry. He pointed at Joan and then next to himself as to beckon her. He raised his voice and said, ‘in my office now!’” according to the lawsuit.
In Wainwright’s office, where Urquhart, the chief deputy, was also present, Wainwright said Kelly was toxic and that he was going to fire her.
Three days later, Wainwright placed Kelly on administrative leave and said he was recommending to the county commissioners — who must approve terminations — that she be fired. Urquhart escorted her out of the building.
Prior to her termination hearing, Kelly met with Urquhart, who said he did not believe the confrontation between Kelly and Wainwright rose to the level of a “one and done fireable offense,” according to the lawsuit.
Urquhart said he believed she was being fired because of a “personality issue,” according to the lawsuit. He acknowledged that he and other male employees had experienced similar confrontations with the sheriff but not been disciplined. Kelly recorded the meeting.
In the subsequent closed-door termination hearing before county commissioners, the lawsuit alleges that Urquhart provided testimony that contradicted his statements to Kelly.
For instance, Urquhart and Wainwright acknowledged that other employees, who are male, had also acted insubordinate, but it was more acceptable and didn’t warrant discipline, they said, “while insubordination, as expressed by Joan, not only merited discipline, but termination,” the lawsuit states.
The commissioners ultimately found Kelly’s actions did not justify a firing and directed her to be reinstated. They publicly confirmed their findings on Feb. 18, 2020.
That’s when the sheriff “sought to do what he was not able to do through the legal statutory process, by delaying and materially and adversely altering the terms of her employment, thereby constructively terminating Joan,” the lawsuit states.
On March 19, 2020, Urquhart and the county’s human resources consultant, Annalee Rosenblatt, told Kelly that, instead of being fired, she would be suspended without pay for a week and would serve a six-month probation period.
In that time she would have to abide by a performance improvement plan that “reached far beyond the issues for which she was being disciplined,” the lawsuit states, such as by requiring her to understand that her supervisors “deserve your loyalty and support.”
The plan also said she had to “work within common practice and procedures for leaving work during the day,” the lawsuit reads. Kelly understood this directive to be an attempt to give Wainwright control through the improvement plan to limit her participation in public commissioners meetings, which happen during the day.
Her return date was repeatedly pushed back, which her complaint says served to “foment the destruction of her reputation with her colleagues.” She later learned it was the sheriff who kept pushing back her return date, according to the complaint.
She finally resumed work on May 21, 2020, “with every intention of trying to give it her all at a job she loved and at which she was excellent,” the lawsuit states, but she soon realized the sheriff “fully intended to circumvent all procedures” to allow himself to fire her.
In a meeting with human resources, the sheriff and the chief deputy, she was asked to sign off on a number of documents, including both a job description and disciplinary notice with inaccuracies in them, according to the lawsuit. Changes had also been made to her performance improvement plan. She could be fired at any point within the six-month probationary period without a warning.
Kelly told the sheriff it was a shame they couldn’t have aired their differences and moved on, “rather than taking things to the extreme he was, by altering her job and enabling himself to terminate her without any oversight. He shrugged his shoulders and smirked,” the lawsuit reads.
Understanding that she would not be able to recover from the discipline, she decided to resign.
Wainwright applies Oxford County’s policies regarding respect for superiors to support staff, who are all women except for one, but not law enforcement officers, who are all men, according to Kelly’s lawsuit, which provides two examples of officers not getting in trouble for insubordination.
In one instance, in May 2019, Urquhart “loudly confronted” Wainwright in the sheriff’s office “in response to the Sheriff covering up an accident that had taken place in a county cruiser. This argument ended in the Chief walking off the job, indicating that he could not return, and criticizing the Sheriff to several other subordinate employees. The Chief returned, and was in no way disciplined for his insubordination, his conduct, or for any other reason,” according to the lawsuit. The crash involved then-Sgt. Chris Davis.
In another example, Lt. Chancey Libby confronted Wainwright in front of others and walked off the job, later sending emails and text messages so insubordinate that Wainwright shut down Libby’s email account, the complaint reads. Around that time in November 2019, Libby told Kelly that he anticipated he would be disciplined. He was not, and was surprised that he was not, the lawsuit states.
In March 2020, the Bangor Daily News requested five years of discipline records from Oxford County. It received Kelly’s disciplinary notice describing how she was being suspended for telling Wainwright he did not deserve her respect. The county did not provide any discipline for Urquhart, Davis or Libby.
Rather the sheriff was seeking to terminate Kelly because she had tried to raise issues in the sheriff’s office such as the sheriff’s handling of Davis’ crash, the lawsuit alleges.
While Kelly’s lawsuit does not go into details about what happened, part of Davis’ situation was discussed at a public commissioners meeting. During that forum on Nov. 7, 2019, a month prior to her criticizing the sheriff, Kelly asked the commissioners if they were comfortable with actions taken by the sheriff, and they said they were. Wainwright had edited Davis’ resignation letter, Rosenblatt told the elected officials.
Specifically Wainwright had whited out and rewritten the effective date of Davis’ resignation, apparently postponing it, according to the Sun Journal and a union grievance memo. Kelly said she met with human resources the next day to share “further concerns” about Davis’ crash and Wainwright’s handling of it, according to the lawsuit.
By the time of that November 2019 commissioners meeting, the local prosecutor had already informed Wainwright that Davis was Giglio-impaired, meaning if Davis had continued to work as a police officer he would have been limited in his ability to testify as a credible witness in court and therefore perform the duties of his job.
While Giglio impairments are normally confidential, the district attorney’s office provided then-District Attorney Andrew Robinson’s Oct. 3, 2019, emails about Davis’ Giglio impairment to his staff and the sheriff’s office under a public records request. The prosecutor didn’t state in the emails why Davis was Giglio impaired, but the designation meant his office would have to disclose Davis’ credibility issue if it ever had to rely on his testimony in court.
Kelly has incurred mental suffering, humiliation and damage to her reputation and professional standing, the lawsuit argues. Because the defendants’ actions were “were with malice or so outrageous that malice can be implied,” she is seeking punitive damages.