Suit Against DA Claims Complaints About Lack of Breast-Feeding Stations, Hispanic Bias Led to Firing
The District Attorney’s Office for Topeka’s Shawnee County is being accused of race and gender discrimination in a federal lawsuit (PDF) filed by two former employees.
The plaintiffs, Krystal Boxum-Debolt and Lisa Anne Moore, were victim witness specialists before they were fired in 2010. They claim they were dismissed in retaliation for complaining about gender and race discrimination, the Topeka Capital-Journal reports. District Attorney Chad Taylor is named as a defendant.
The plaintiffs, both white women, say they complained the office was discriminating against female employees because it lacked appropriate locations for breast-feeding and pumping, according to the lawsuit. “These complaints were ridiculed by the defendants, including with statements that plaintiff Moore must not have enough work to do since she was looking up statutes,” the suit says.
Boxum-Debolt and Moore say they also complained about race discrimination by a supervisor who they say coerced a Hispanic employee and the widow of a murder victim to clean her home. The plaintiffs say their association with Hispanic employees led to discrimination against them.
The suit also claims the office failed to pay required overtime, and that the sex of the plaintiffs was a motivating factor.
The DA’s chief of staff had not seen the lawsuit and did not comment when contacted by the Capital-Journal.
Prior coverage of DA’s Office:
ABAJournal.com: “Topeka Decriminalizes Domestic Violence in Prosecution Budget Spat; Suspects Go Free”
