The Montezuma County Sheriff\u2019s Office has settled a 2013 employment dispute involving a former deputy.<\/p>\n
The settlement reached in June includes a $158,529 payment to Patricia McEachern, who was employed as a Montezuma County patrol deputy from March 28, 2011 to Nov. 12, 2013. The agreement called for the sheriff\u2019s office to reflect that McEachern resigned, and was not terminated.<\/p>\n
The settlement doesn\u2019t include any admission of wrongdoing by either party. The settlement included an additional $14,000 for attorney fees.<\/p>\n
Documents obtained through public-records requests reveal that McEachern was fired 12 days after she filed a discrimination complaint against the office.<\/p>\n
A termination letter dated Nov. 12, 2013 from then-Lt. Adam Eastman outlined numerous department violations occurring from January 2012 through September 2013. Eastman wrote that McEachern had been reprimanded for incidents including speeding, an officer-involved shooting and an alleged phone theft.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am concerned as this behavior appears to show a pattern of failing to respond to remedial training and previous disciplinary actions,\u201d Eastman wrote. \u201cFurthermore, this demonstrated pattern of behavior, poor choices, poor driving, and lack of sound officer safety decisions continues to put the community, other law enforcement officers, and yourself at risk.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Nov. 26, 2013, Denver attorney Michael Lowe wrote former Sheriff Dennis Spruell on McEachern\u2019s behalf, requesting a meeting to discuss her termination. Lowe also provided potentially mitigating information relating to incidents listed in the termination letter.<\/p>\n
For example, the speeding incident in January 2012 referred to McEachern\u2019s response to a call about a man behaving violently in the presence of children, Lowe said. He also pointed out that both the sheriff and district attorney cleared McEachern of wrongdoing connected to the shooting incident.<\/p>\n
In his letter, Lowe seemed more disturbed that his client\u2019s termination was also attributed to a claim that she violated department policy by filing a complaint with county officials. Lowe wrote that reason for termination was \u201cclearly retaliatory.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2026 There is every indication that Deputy McEachern\u2019s concerns of discrimination and retaliation are legitimate and factually supported, and she has every right under federal law to bring those allegations forward without retaliation from her employer,\u201d Lowe wrote.<\/p>\n
Eastman explained in the three-page termination letter that McEachern\u2019s decision to file her complaint with county officials violated department policy, adding her action was equivalent to \u201cspreading rumors.\u201d<\/p>\n
McEachern reportedly made an informal complaint to her immediate supervisor regarding sex discrimination on Aug. 9, 2013. She followed with a written complaint in October.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is my desire to resolve this situation through a formal investigation into the treatment of me as an employee of the Montezuma County Sheriff\u2019s Office as my informal complaints have only resulted in further harassment,\u201d McEachern wrote on Oct. 25, 2013.<\/p>\n
In that letter, McEachern claimed that she had been subjected to disproportionate disciplinary actions because of her gender. She also claimed that she was the target of an offensive cartoon that was circulated in the department.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love being a deputy, and I just want to be allowed to do my job to the best of my ability and free from gender discrimination, disparate treatment, and a hostile environment,\u201d McEachern concluded.<\/p>\n
After filing a formal complaint with county officials on Nov. 1, 2013, McEachern submitted a complaint to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on Dec. 23, 2012. In that complaint, McEachern alleged that she was subjected to harassment and discrimination. The complaint also alleged that she was terminated despite performing satisfactorily while on duty.<\/p>\n
Despite continued department reprimands against McEachern, she also received multiple pay raises while employed as a Montezuma County deputy. When hired in 2011, McEachern was paid $19.71 per hour. By the time she was terminated in 2013, she had received two pay raises, and earned $20.71 per hour.<\/p>\n
tbaker@cortezjournal.com<\/a><\/p>\n Patricia McEachern was convicted of careless driving that resulted in a death about seven years before joining the Montezuma County Sheriff\u2019s Office, according to her personnel file. challenged 2013 termination<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5736,5735],"tags":[1175,1255,13,237],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-109218","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news","category-news","tag-civil-rights","tag-employment","tag-frontpage-lead","tag-montezuma-county-government"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109218","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=109218"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109218\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=109218"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=109218"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=109218"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=109218"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}McEachern work history<\/h4>\n
\n Court records obtained from the Montezuma County Sheriff\u2019s Office revealed that McEachern worked for 13 months as a police officer in Northglenn, Colo., until August 2003, when she reportedly was fired. She joined the sheriff\u2019s office in 2011.
\n McEachern was on duty in Northglenn and responding to a call when she struck a motorist, killing the driver, according to the records. She was convicted in February 2004 and sentenced to a year of probation and community service.
\n She then worked with the Adams County coroner, a Denver police supply company, a Front Range investigator and as a reserve officer for the Morrison Police Department.
\n tbaker@cortezjournal.com<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"