Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 30, 1990 TAG: 9003300651
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: NEAL THOMPSON NEW RIVER VALLEY BUREAU
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
Donah Sutherland, 37, of Christiansburg claims she was fired because she resisted the sexual advances of Sheriff Louis Barber and Lt. George Keyes, supervisor of the county jail, according to a copy of the complaint obtained by the Roanoke Times & World-News.
"I feel I was sexually discriminated against and sexually harassed on many occasions by Sheriff Barber," Sutherland states in the complaint filed March 16 with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in Richmond. "I feel I was fired for failing to give in to Sheriff Barber's advances."
A spokeswoman for the commission said complaints are confidential. She would not say whether an investigation was being conducted.
Barber said the commission notified him last week that it was going to conduct an investigation. But he said he was unaware of specific claims made by Sutherland.
"This is not true," Barber said Thursday when he was shown a copy of the complaint. "As far as I'm concerned, this is a character assassination."
Sutherland's attorney, Deborah Caldwell-Bono of Roanoke, said the investigation will determine whether her client has sufficient grounds to file a sex-discrimination suit in federal court.
Sutherland had worked for the department for 10 years before she was fired in October, she said Wednesday.
She was hired as a part-time cook for the jail in December 1980 and was promoted to full-time cook and dietitian the following year, according to the complaint.
In 1984, she became a deputy sheriff in charge of booking, fingerprinting and searching female prisoners. In December 1988, she was promoted to sergeant in the jail, where she supervised four other deputies.
Barber fired Sutherland on Oct. 25.
In her complaint, Sutherland says Barber fired her after he "obtained copies of letters purported to be between myself and an inmate and he asked me to resign. I refused [and] was fired."
Sutherland told a reporter Thursday that she had not written any letters to an inmate nor had she received any.
Barber would not say why Sutherland was fired, but he said there was an internal investigation into her job performance last year that led to her dismissal.
Barber also said he has tapes of interviews with Sutherland. He said that after the commission's investigation he would let a reporter listen to them and would discuss why Sutherland was fired.
"But for now, you'll have to talk to my attorney," he said. "Since there's action pending, I can't comment on the reasons for her dismissal."
Barber said Keyes, the other officer named in the complaint, was not available for comment. He said he told Keyes and other deputies not to discuss the case.
Barber's attorney, Thomas T. Lawson of Roanoke, also declined to discuss the purported letters or whether they were the cause of her firing.
"She was dismissed after an investigation," Lawson said.
After Sutherland was fired, she worked temporarily in the county treasurer's office during tax collection time until the end of January. She now is drawing unemployment and looking for a job.
by CNB