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Former deputy sues Boyle County Fiscal Court

May 15, 2012|By TODD KLEFFMAN | tkleffman@amnews.com

Jeff Stith

A former Boyle County deputy sheriff has filed a lawsuit against the Fiscal Court alleging he was wrongfully terminated from his post because magistrates had an ax to grind.

Jeff Stith, whose employment was terminated by Sheriff Marty Elliott in February after the Fiscal Court cut Elliott’s budget, filed the complaint last week in Boyle Circuit Court. It names Elliott, Judge-Executive Harold McKinney, Magistrates Dickie Mays, Donald Coffman, Phil Sammons, Jack Hendricks, Patty Burke and John Caywood, and County Attorney Richard Campbell as defendants.

According to the lawsuit, Stith, a former Danville police officer and paramedic, was hired by Elliott as a part-time deputy in November 2010 with the understanding that he would soon be moved in to a full-time position. Stith worked more than 40 hours a week in the capacity of a road deputy, patrolling highways, serving papers, responding to calls and making arrests, the complaint states.

The Fiscal Court, however, denied Elliott’s multiple requests to make Stith full-time, the lawsuit claims. Instead, it labeled him as a transport officer and part-time bailiff, though Stith never worked in those capacities.

The lawsuit states that the Fiscal Court violated state law by prohibiting Elliott from hiring Stith full-time, because Elliott has statutory authority to hire and fire deputies.

Even though he was working full-time hours, Stith never received benefits or hazardous duty pay, the lawsuit alleges. In August, Stith called the Kentucky Retirement System to inquire about his hazardous duty pay and learned he wasn’t receiving any. A retirement system employee called Boyle County’s human resources department to enquire about the situation, which upset McKinney, the complaint maintains.

Stith then wrote a letter to the Fiscal Court “alerting them to their violations of the law”¿and “certain members of the Fiscal Court became very upset,” the lawsuit states. Magistrates then took “hostile action” against Stith by reducing Elliott’s budget by the approximate amount that Stith would earn in a year, “thereby forcing Elliott to terminate Stith” in February.

Five days later, magistrates approved a plan to send two new candidates to the sheriff’s academy for training, the lawsuit alleges.

Stith filed multiple grievances pursuant to the county’s employee handbook, but those complaints were never addressed, according to the lawsuit. The Advocate-Messenger has filed an Open Records request for documents related to the grievances Stith filed.

The complaint, filed by Lexington attorney Elliott Miller, also maintains that the defendants violated the state’s Whistleblower’s Act by retaliating against Stith because he reported that he was denied benefits he was entitled to. It seeks an unspecified amount of damages for lost pay and benefits, along with emotional stress and pain and suffering Stith allegedly endured.

None of the defendants has yet responded to the allegations in the complaint. Campbell, the county attorney, said last week that separate legal counsel recommended by the Kentucky Association of Counties will be hired to represent the Fiscal Court and sheriff’s department separately in the case.

Barry Stilz of Lexington will represent the Fiscal Court, while Brent Caldwell, also of Lexington, will represent the sheriff’s department, Campbell said.

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