Jacksonville police sex-harassment suit rejected
A federal judge shut down a Jacksonville police lieutenant’s sex-discrimination lawsuit against the city, saying her claims weren’t numerous enough or severe enough to win her case.
Lt. Trudy Callahan's 2016 lawsuit said she experienced a hostile work environment where she was written up for small slip-ups while male supervisors went undisciplined for similar conduct.
Even if she could prove individual examples, the judge ruled there wasn’t enough substance to prove the hostile work environment and retaliation at the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office that Callahan claimed.
“[T]he court finds some of the alleged conduct of Callahan’s superiors to be distasteful, petty and beneath the dignity of the badge. However … this behavior is not actionable harassment,” Senior U.S. District Judge Harvey E. Schlesinger wrote in a summary judgment order filed last week.
He said Callahan described 17 instances of harassment over 18 years, with 14 happening in a five-year window. But he said the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which hears appeals of Jacksonville cases, has ruled before that similar chains of incidents amount to “isolated, sporadic incidents” that shouldn’t be treated as defining a work environment.
The suit, which the judge summarized as saying “that JSO weaponized the disciplinary and counseling process to harass her,” argued the agency violated the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
But the ruling said Callahan had been able to do her job and win promotions, and said some of the things she complained about were part of police routines that can serve legitimate purposes.
“While it may be upsetting to be repeatedly questioned and investigated, it does not rise to the level of actionable harassment,” Schlesinger wrote, adding that Callahan and other police often use counseling and discipline to handle lower-ranking officers.
Callahan’s performance reviews hadn’t suffered, the judge wrote, and her statements in a deposition showed that “her day-to-day work has not been affected, and she still takes pride in teaching and leading her subordinates.”
Schlesinger dismissed Callahan's lawsuit.
Steve Patterson: (904) 359-4263