3 file EEOC discrimination complaints against Richland County Sheriff's Office

Two former employees and the current administrative payroll officer at the Richland County Sheriff's Office have each filed a notice of charge of discrimination with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against the department.

Megan Collins, Melissa Wilson and Erika Spicer filed the notices in 2023 under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, according to documents the News Journal received.

"The Sheriff's Office has not received notice of the filing, therefore we cannot make a comment," Maj. Joe Masi said when contacted Friday.

Megan Collins cites racial discrimination

Collins, 44, who started as a 911 dispatcher at the sheriff's office on June 20, 2017, under the supervision of Capt. James Sweat, quit her job Oct. 11.

Her reason for the complaint was racial discrimination and being a woman in a hostile work environment.

"I became very uncomfortable with being under Capt. (Jimmy) Sweat's supervision. I also was accused of assisting a trainee, who was a bi-racial female, in writing an email that stated that she felt uncomfortable with her current trainer and waned to be trained by a person of color," Collins, who is Black, said in the EEOC document. "I was unaware of this email and was never addressed by my supervisor, Capt. Sweat. This created a hostile work environment for me. Punishment for this was not being allowed to train due to 'me using my race to advance.' Capt. Sweat spoke to me in a manner that I knew I was being threatened but he worded it to where if I tried to file a grievance, it would be his word against mine."

She said she never knew about an email until about a month before she quit when she asked someone why Sweat hates her. A coworker told her it was the email in which she supposedly had coached another employee to write an email to Sweat about the coworker who said she would feel more comfortable with a trainer being "a person of color."

"Between the strategic threats, the being treated differently, and denied the same opportunities as others, I chose to leave the sheriff's office," Collins said. "I grew up in Lucas, and so I've always been a minority, so I've always been taught you never use that as a means of gaining anything in your life. You do it by hard work, by being nice to people and by having a great work ethic and great character."

She said she was never approached, confronted or asked about the email she supposedly was involved in writing but said coworkers explained that was why she was being treated the way she was over the years.

"Women are not treated the same as men. The same thing that a man would do and a woman would do, we would be reprimanded differently as women than what a man would be reprimanded if they were reprimanded at all," Collins said. Discipline would be different too, she added.

Collins, a former Morrow County 911 dispatcher, said she had had no problems at her former workplace.

As a member of the Fraternal Order of Police, Collins said she was cheated out of training money when she was the highest in seniority on the 2-10 p.m. shift. Per the union contract, Collins was to be offered any training position for any new hires. She said several times she was overlooked and the opportunity on her shift was given to others with less time on the job.

She said she also was treated differently than other employees regarding sick leave. Hospitalized for COVID-19 in 2021, she said she had sick leave and filed for the Family Medical Leave Act, which is required of employees who miss more than three days in a row. She said Sweat, when she again got sick because of long-term COVID in 2023, had a patrol officer drive to Avita Health Systems in Ontario to get a return-to-work excuse for her when she returned at work, yet other male employees did not have to turn in return-to-work slips or follow the FMLA policy.

Collins now works as a care coordinator and advocate for juveniles with behavioral health issues at a private agency and likes what she is doing to help kids. She said it is a rainbow of people and she doesn't have to worry about "being that minority."

Collins was dispatcher of the year at the sheriff's office her second year on the job. She received positive job evaluations.

Melissa Wilson addressed as 'she' by Sweat, records office co-workers

Wilson, 54, worked 17½ years as a corrections officer in the Richland County Jail starting in December 1995 and decided she wanted to work elsewhere in the sheriff's office. She was hired in the records office. She said she even took a pay cut because she wanted a change. She worked in records from August 2013 to July 12, when she quit.

Wilson said in her complaint, "Capt. Sweat allowed a debilitating hostile work environment that forced me to take a leave of absence due to stress which affected by mental health. This included being reprimanded and addressed negatively in front of co-workers and being treated differently than the younger women in my department."

Her reasons for complaint were listed as age and retaliation. "I complained to my employer about job discrimination.

"Upon returning to work, I was left alone in my department on my first day back. He (Sweat) was very condescending and short with me. Advised me 'that I have no place here,'" the complaint said.

Wilson said no one in the sheriff's office would address her by name.

While on medical leave, Wilson said Sweat openly discussed and announced to several people her mental health status and spoke of an inability to do the job correctly.

Wilson said when she quit, she wrote in her letter of resignation to Sheriff J. Steve Sheldon that she could no longer work in the hostile work environment and that it was causing her to have health issues hindering her from performing her job.

In a letter dated June 28, the sheriff accepted her resignation and put in writing, "I wish you the best of luck in your future endeavors."

She then tried to rescind the resignation and was told via voicemail by Maj. Joe Masi that the sheriff accepted her resignation and so it "is a done deal after doing some checking and that it is out of his and the sheriff's control," Wilson said.

When she quit, she had 27½ years on the job and lost her Ohio Public Employees Retirement System with only 4½ years needed to work to gain years of service.

Wilson said she reported a hostile work environment to several people including the union representative but got no relief.

Wilson also had positive work evaluations with many check marks on her May 5 review for meeting and exceeding standards.

Erika Spicer said she was subjected to retaliation, demoted

Spicer, 48, said in her complaint, "I have been discriminated against and received and was subjected to retaliation since I made a formal complaint against Capt. James Sweat and a verbal complaint against Maj. Joe Masi to Sheriff Sheldon in 2022."

After her formal complaint against Sweat in 2022, she was demoted to payroll officer from payroll supervisor.

She said she was told she was an at-will employee and has no rights.

"Within the last year my work environment has become very hostile. The hostility has come from Capt. James Sweat and Major Joe Masi. This includes verbally assaulted by Major Joe Masi (on Oct. 12, 2023) when I went to him (who) is my superior in reference to harassment by a co-worker."

Her reasons for complaint are age and retaliation, the latter because she complained to her employer about job discrimination. She has worked at the sheriff's office since Oct. 1, 2013.

lwhitmir@gannett.com

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This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Discrimination charged against Richland County OH Sheriff's Office