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Case 2:18-cv-00371-DBP Document 2 Filed 05/07/18 Page 1 of 20

Cameron Platt (Bar No. 16548)


STRINDBERG & SCHOLNICK, LLC
675 East 2100 South, Suite 350
Salt Lake City, Utah 84106
(t) 801.359.4169
(f) 801.359.4313
cameron@utahjobjustice.com

Attorneys for Plaintiff

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT


DISTRICT OF UTAH, CENTRAL DIVISION

R. LYNN MCAFEE,

Plaintiff, COMPLAINT
AND JURY DEMAND
vs.

JUAB COUNTY, a political Civil No. 2:18-cv-00371-DBP


subdivision of the State of Utah,
SHERIFF DOUG ANDERSON, Judge Dustin B. Pead
AND MIKE SEELY an individual,

Defendants.

Plaintiff Lynn McAfee (“Plaintiff” or “Lt. McAfee”), by and through his

attorneys, hereby complains against Defendants Juab County (the “County”),

Sheriff Doug Anderson (“Sheriff” or “Mr. Anderson”), and Mike Seely (“Mr.

Seely”) (Collectively Defendants) as follows:

I. NATURE OF THE CLAIMS

This lawsuit arises from Lt. McAfee’s wrongful termination from Juab

County without just cause and in violation of his Constitutional property rights

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under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments, as provided under 42 U.S.C. § 1983,

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e, and the Utah

Protection of Public Employees Act, Utah Code Ann. § 67-21 et seq.

II. PARTIES

1. Lt. McAfee resides in the State of Utah, Juab County, and was a

deputy employed by Juab County at all times relevant to the allegations in this

Complaint.

2. Defendant Juab County is a political subdivision of the State of Utah.

3. Sheriff Doug Anderson is a citizen of the State of Utah and is the

Sheriff of Juab County. Sheriff Anderson is being sued in his official and

individual capacities for all available relief.

4. Defendant Mike Seely is a citizen of the State of Utah and is the

Human Resource Director of Juab County. Mr. Seely is being sued in his official

and individual capacities for all available relief.

III. JURISDICTION AND VENUE

5. This Court has jurisdiction over this matter pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §

1331, § 1343 and § 1367.

6. Venue is proper with this Court pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1391(b)

because all the employment practices or individual acts alleged to be unlawful

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occurred within the jurisdiction of this Court and because all Defendants live in the

State of Utah.

7. On March 6, 2018, Lieutenant McAfee served Defendant Juab County

a Notice of Claim pursuant to the Governmental Immunity Act of Utah, Utah Code

Ann. § 63G-7-401 et. seq., alleging that he was wrongfully terminated in violation

of the Utah whistleblower act. Defendant Juab County has not responded to the

Notice of Claim.

IV. GENERAL ALLEGATIONS

1. Juab County recruited and subsequently hired, Mr. McAfee on

October 29, 2015, by Sheriff Anderson to work as the Jail Commander with the

rank of Lieutenant.

2. The County’s job posting for Jail Commander did not indicate that the

position was anything other than a merit service position, as is common with most

public agency law enforcement jobs.

3. When Lt. McAfee accepted employment with the County, the County

again did not inform him that his position was anything other than a merit service

position.

4. The County did require that Lt. McAfee sign a document stating that

new employees were on probation for one year and could be terminated at-will

during this time period.

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5. Additionally, the letter stated that “[a] copy of the Juab County

Human Resource Policies and Procedures [would] be made available for [Lt.

McAfee] to review.

6. Unfortunately, the County did not provide the policy manual until

May 12, 2016 upon request by Lt. McAfee.

7. The letter also hinted that after successfully completing probation, and

“if eligible, [Lt. McAfee] may become a merit employee as described in Juab

County Human Resource Policies.

8. Lt. McAfee successfully completed his probationary period and was a

highly competent Jail Commander for the next two years, demonstrating that he

was a dependable employee who was willing to work irregular, on-call, and long

shifts when needed.

9. Significantly, the County treated Lt. McAfee as a merit service

employee, not as an at will employee, consistent with other County lieutenants and

Jail Commanders and in calculating his pay.

a. The County employed two other lieutenants, in addition to Lt.

McAfee, that were both merit service employees.

b. The County paid Lt. McAfee overtime and compensation time,

at time and a half, as a merit service employee when non-merit service

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employees are only eligible for overtime or compensation time at straight

time according to County policy.

c. The previous Jail Commander, Howard Jacquart whom Lt.

McAfee replaced, was classified as a merit service employee and received

overtime pay as such.

d. John Hunt who was Jail Commander before Howard Jacquart

was a Captain, was classified as a merit service employee, and received

overtime pay as such.

10. Shortly after Lt. McAfee became Jail Commander in 2015, the jail

received a failing evaluation from the Utah State Department of Corrections

(“UDC”) Inmate Placement Program (“IPP”). The evaluation determined that the

jail failed to meet minimum standards. For example, while reviewing jail closed

circuit video the auditors observed a jailer who slept during his shift and failed to

conduct required checks on inmates.

11. Lt. McAfee took immediate steps to correct the deficiencies in the

audit and received feedback from UDC administrators and the Independent Jail

Standards Inspector that “things have never run better.”

12. Throughout his employment as Jail Commander, Lt. McAfee

implemented difficult and often conflicting orders from Sheriff Anderson given the

staffing and budget available to the jail.

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13. For example, Sheriff Anderson ordered Lt. McAfee to create a

schedule to staff a supervisor at the jail with coverage sixteen hours a day, from

6:00AM to 10:00PM, seven days a week. The implementation of such a schedule

would leave the jail short-staffed during transports of prisoners to court. Lt.

McAfee informed the Sheriff that staffing would not allow such a schedule to

which Sheriff Anderson said, “Well, the road is just going to have to step up!”

14. Unfortunately, Sheriff Anderson failed to pass on his directive to the

supervisors of the road deputies.

15. When confronted at a patrol meeting by the road deputies, Sheriff

Anderson denied any knowledge of requiring the road deputies to perform court

transports.

16. The Sheriff’s actions caused delay and confusion regarding prisoner

transports, seriously affected the morale of both the corrections and road deputies,

pitted each against the other, and wasted public funds and staffing.

17. Sheriff Anderson made other dishonest and disruptive decisions and

statements through Lt. McAfee’s employment at Juab County. In fact, the Sheriff’s

conflicting decisions and denial of those decisions was well known through the

County and within law enforcement.

18. In June 2017, Sheriff Anderson announced he would send all eleven

correctional officers to be Law Enforcement Officer certified (“LEO”) at Peace

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Officers Standards and Training (“POST”). Lt. McAfee was concerned about the

financial burden this would place on the County, as it would potentially cost

hundreds of thousands of dollars including wages, per diem, and reimbursement

for transportation to the training for all eleven officers. Additionally, the County

would incur additional staffing costs to cover the shifts of these officers.

19. Sheriff Anderson’s decision also carried additional personnel costs.

Due to other agencies’ hiring difficulties, there exists a strong statewide hiring

demand for officers that are already certified as LEOs, prompting better incentives

and higher hourly pay rates.

20. The newly trained corrections officers could immediately seek jobs at

other law enforcement agencies within the state. Lt. McAfee was concerned that

sending all the corrections officers through POST at once would increase the

likelihood of them leaving to other agencies upon completion of the training.

21. A few days after Sheriff Anderson’s announcement, Chief Deputy Al

Taylor (“Chief Taylor”) approached Lt. McAfee and asked him what he thought

about the news of sending the correctional officers through POST.

22. When Lt. McAfee explained his concerns to Chief Taylor, Chief

Taylor got very defensive and responded saying, “You cannot hold people’s

careers back because they might leave.” Lt. McAfee agreed with that statement,

but rebutted Chief Taylor’s view, explaining it was not in the County’s best

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interest to send corrections officers to unnecessary training that would prompt the

officers to leave because the County would lose valuable employees in whom it

had made significant investment in costs and time.

23. During the next Command Staff meeting, Sheriff Anderson asked

everyone their opinions on sending all corrections officers through POST. Lt.

McAfee was the first to speak, and when he began to express his concerns, Sherriff

Anderson quickly interrupted him saying, “When, I give a directive, why do you

have to always fight everything that I do?”

24. Lt. McAfee responded, “In all fairness, you did not present this as a

directive, you asked what we thought about it. This implied that you wanted our

input.” Then, Chief Taylor came to Sherriff Anderson’s defense and angrily

exclaimed that Lt. McAfee was out of line and that he should not disrespect the

Sheriff.

25. During this exchange, the majority of supervisors present voiced their

opinions in agreement with Lt. McAfee, who then said, “Doug, this meeting is

when we should be able to express our thoughts and views and have a discussion.

When we go out that door and your decision has been made, then we need to

support your decision and be united if we want to remain in our positions.”

26. Lt. McAfee then added that if the County was a business, it would

never spend money and do something that may cause it to lose its employees, or it

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would go out of business. Ultimately, despite requesting feedback from the staff,

Sherriff Anderson and Chief Taylor refused to listen to the Command Staff’s

comments and chose to implement the training plan.

27. The County permits an environment that is complacent with gender

discrimination and stereotyping towards two female employees jail supervisors:

Sgt. Claudia Newell, and Sgt. Kami Jacobsen.

28. Sheriff Anderson repeatedly referred to Sgt. Claudia Newell as a

“bitch” and stated that he was “sick and tired of Claudia’s attitude.” Lt. McAfee

was uncomfortable with this gender harassment of Sgt. Newell and defended her.

Likely sensing Lt. McAfee’s discomfort, Sheriff Anderson said, “You can’t tell her

I think she is a bitch; you have to sell this for me.”

29. Lt. McAfee also communicated his concerns about Sheriff Anderson’s

gender harassment of Sgt. Newell in a written complaint to HR Director Mike

Seely on August 4, 2017.

30. Following the Sheriff’s example, other officers openly and freely

made various negative and discriminatory comments about female employees. For

example, male officers complained to the Sheriff that neither Sgt. Newell nor Sgt.

Jacobsen should do inmate transfers together because they are both female.

31. Officers also stated that the female sergeants should not be able to

work or even go to lunch together because of their gender, stating they needed to

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work at different times and shifts, yet all other male supervisors routinely went to

lunch together.

32. Many officers also made negative comments towards Sgt. Newell for

having taken FMLA leave and towards Sgt. Jacobsen for scheduling FMLA leave

in the future.

33. As the ranking supervisor at the jail, Lt. McAfee took measures to

correct officers’ discriminatory comments, but his efforts were negated by Sheriff

Anderson’s conduct.

34. Lt. McAfee tried to talk with Sheriff Anderson on numerous

occasions about the Sheriff’s conflicting orders and resulting chaos, the

mistreatment of the female sergeants, and the difficult work environment

attributable to the Sheriff. Initially, Sheriff Anderson seemed to agree with Lt.

McAfee on the problems he reported and even committed to correcting the issues,

but then failed to take any action to resolve them.

35. Lt. McAfee finally confronted Sheriff Anderson a final time on

August 2, 2017, but Sheriff Anderson refused to speak with him.

36. On August 3, 2017, Lt. McAfee, Sgt. Newell, and Sgt. Jacobsen met

with Mike Seely, the Juab County Human Resource Director, and described the

problems detailed above and Lt. McAfee’s efforts to resolve the problems.

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37. The following day, Lt. McAfee sent a follow-up letter and

documentation describing his good faith belief that Sheriff Anderson was wasting

or misusing public funds, and potentially violating the law. Lt. McAfee also

described his repeated attempts to resolve his concerns with Sheriff Anderson.

38. Initially, the County and Sheriff Anderson appeared to take Lt.

McAfee’s concerns seriously and reported that it would start an investigation into

the issues he had raised.

39. During the next several weeks, Sheriff Anderson and Lt. McAfee only

communicated when absolutely necessary. On August 29, 2017, Lt. McAfee was in

the Sheriff’s Office parking lot discussing a personnel issue with another

Lieutenant. Sheriff Anderson motioned Lt. McAfee over to his vehicle, engaged in

small talk and asked Lt. McAfee what he was discussing with the lieutenant. Lt.

McAfee explained the personnel issue and then asked Sheriff Anderson if the

conflict between them could be resolved. Sheriff Anderson replied, “I either have

to clear my name or resign.”

40. Lt. McAfee told Sheriff Anderson that there were other options to

resolve the situation besides clearing his name or resigning and said that he just

wanted to do his job without the past conflicts and being threatened.

41. Sheriff Anderson seemed to relax at this point and his tone of voice

softened. He seemed relieved that Lt. McAfee was willing to make compromises

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and resolve the conflict between them. Sheriff Anderson then admitted that he

“took a look at [himself] in the mirror to see who [he] really is” and that he was

guilty of many of the accusations made by Lt. McAfee in his complaint.

42. The conversation ended on a positive note and Lt. McAfee believed

there was a possibility that the issues he reported would be resolved amicably.

43. Unfortunately Lt. McAfee’s optimism was short lived. On September

13, 2017, Mr. Seely wrote a response to Lt. McAfee’s complaints against Sheriff

Anderson. In the letter, the County denied any remedy to Lt. McAfee because he

did not have standing to file a grievance and threatened his employment by

“counseling [Lt. McAfee] to carefully re-evaluate [his] loyalty to the Sheriff, Chief

Deputy Sheriff and to Juab County.”

44. Incredibly, Mr. Seely “[found] that failure to provide due process is

not a violation of Juab County policy.”

45. The County then told Lt. McAfee, for the first time, that his position

was a career service position and that “Only ‘career service’ employees are

afforded the right to submit a grievance per Juab County Human Resource Policy.”

46. On September 21, 2017, a Millard County investigator interviewed Lt.

McAfee and other jail supervisors as part of a background investigation on a

current Juab County corrections officer. The investigator questioned Lt. McAfee

and other jail supervisors about the corrections officer. A short time later, a second

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investigator from Millard County requested follow-up interviews with Lt. McAfee

twice and questioned him about whether Lt. McAfee had been truthful in the first

interview.

47. The Millard County investigation was a sham instigated by Sheriff

Anderson against Lt. McAfee for alleged untruthful statements he made to the

investigators to attempt to manufacture just-cause to terminate Lt. McAfee.

However, Lt. McAfee only provided relevant and truthful information.

48. Ultimately, the background check revealed that the corrections officer

had failed to list a theft conviction on his POST application when he was hired by

the County but did disclose the theft when he applied to Sanpete County. POST

opened an investigation into the officer’s applications and ordered that his peace

officer certification be suspended for three years. Despite this ruling, Sheriff

Anderson allowed the officer to continue working at the jail during his POST

appeals.

49. Having created what it felt was sufficient “cause” to terminate Lt.

McAfee’s employment, on November 6, 2017, Sheriff Anderson terminated Lt.

McAfee.

50. The Sheriff told Lt. McAfee that he “had a lot of evidence to back up

the termination” and that “everyone, unanimously agreed.” Sheriff Anderson

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explained to Lt. McAfee that he was being terminated without cause because he

was an “at-will” employee.

51. Lt. McAfee appealed his termination to Mr. Seely and received a

response dated January 16, 2018, stating again, that his position was at-will and

that he did not qualify for the administrative appeals process.

52. Lt. McAfee continued to seek an administrative appeal of his

termination by sending a written request to both the County Commission and the

Personnel Board, neither of which responded to Lt. McAfee’s request.

53. The County’s termination of Lt. McAfee’s employment deprived him

of wages and the value of lost benefits. His career, reputation, and specific job

prospects have suffered from the disparaging comments and actions of County

officials.

54. In addition, Lt. McAfee has suffered emotional distress and continues

to suffer ongoing mental and physical effects of this situation which has affected

his sleep, his family and personal relationships. [anything else?]

FIRST CAUSE OF ACTION


(Violation of Plaintiff’s Right to Due Process, in Violation of 42 U.S.C. § 1983,
Against Defendants Anderson and Seely in their official and individual
capacity.)

55. Plaintiff incorporates the allegations contained in the paragraphs

above as if fully set forth herein.

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56. Lt. McAfee had a property interest in his employment and a

reasonable expectation that his employment would continue absent just cause.

57. The County’s termination of Lt. McAfee’s employment violated his

rights to due process of law under the United States Constitution, by firing him and

by denying him adequate pre and post-termination process, which includes notice,

a hearing, and the right to appeal his termination.

58. Despite the County’s refusal to provide him due process, Lt. McAfee

nevertheless exhausted his administrative appeals in the County’s policies.

59. At all times relevant hereto, Defendants acted under color of law

when committing the complained of acts.

60. Defendants’ actions violated Lt. McAfee’s Fourteenth Amendment

rights by depriving him of a property interest without due process.

61. The right to due process is a clearly established constitutional right

which a reasonable person, including the Defendants, would or should have

known.

62. As a result of Defendants’ conduct, Lt. McAfee has been injured, has

suffered, and will continue to suffer losses. Pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 et seq.,

he is entitled to all available relief, including injunctive and prospective relief,

back pay, reinstatement and/or front pay, and actual and compensatory damages, as

well as costs and attorney’s fees.

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SECOND CAUSE OF ACTION


(Violation of the Utah Whistleblower’s Act Against Juab County)

63. Plaintiff incorporates the allegations contained in the paragraphs

above as if fully set forth herein.

64. The Utah Whistleblower Act, Utah Code Ann. § 65-21-1 et seq.,

protects public employees who communicate or object to violations of a state or

federal law, rule, or regulation. Specifically, Utah Code Ann. § 67-21-3(1)(a) states

that “[a]n employer may not take adverse action against an employee because the

employee … communicates in good faith … the waste or misuse of public funds,

property, or manpower” or “a violation or suspected violation of a law, rule, or

regulation adopted under the law of this state, a political subdivision of this state,

or any recognized entity of the United States.”

65. As more specifically set forth above, Lt. McAfee communicated his

concerns of the waste of government funds and staffing to Sheriff Anderson, Chief

Deputy Taylor, and Mr. Seely the County’s HR Director.

66. In addition, Lt. McAfee also communicated his concerns about gender

discrimination and stereotyping towards two female jail sergeants to Sheriff

Anderson and Mr. Seely.

67. Defendant Juab County took adverse action against Lt. McAfee

because of his reports. For example, as more fully set forth above, after Lt.

McAfee reported Sheriff Anderson’s misconduct and his waste of public funds and
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staffing Sheriff Anderson and Chief Taylor criticized Lt. McAfee for not simply

following along and threatened Lt. McAfee to not oppose the Sheriff. Mr. Seely

initiated an investigation that focused on alleged wrongdoing by Lt. McAfee while

glossing over the Sheriff’s behavior and accused Lt. McAfee of misconduct and

disloyalty, and threatened his employment. In addition, Sheriff Anderson initiated

a sham investigation to discredit Lt. McAfee and to create “cause” to terminate

him. Ultimately, the County via Sheriff Anderson, terminated Lt. McAfee claiming

they “had a lot of evidence to back up the termination.”

68. Juab County’s actions constitute a violation of the Utah

Whistleblower Act and Lt. McAfee has been injured as a result of the County’s

actions.

69. Lt. McAfee is entitled to: back pay and benefits, reinstatement (or

front pay and benefits in lieu of reinstatement), and interest (both pre and post-

judgment).

70. As a further result of the County’s actions, Lt. McAfee is also entitled

to general damages due to his emotional distress and damage to his reputation, and

loss of enjoyment of life.

71. Lt. McAfee is also entitled to recover his attorney’ fees and costs

incurred in bringing this action.

THIRD CAUSE OF ACTION


(Retaliation in Violation of Title VII Against the County)
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72. Plaintiff incorporates the allegations contained in the paragraphs

above as if fully set forth herein.

73. The County may not retaliate against an employee who has either

opposed any practice made unlawful under Title VII or has made a charge or

participated in any matter in an investigation of sexual harassment.

74. Lt. McAfee opposed Sheriff Anderson’s treatment of the female jail

sergeants and the corresponding gender discrimination and stereotyping by other

County employees and, in addition, reported his good faith belief of discrimination

to Mr. Seely.

75. The County took adverse action against Lt. McAfee when it pressured

him to go along with policies and actions he opposed, targeted him with an

investigation, tried to manufacture a charge of dishonesty with a second

investigation, and when it terminated his employment.

76. A causal connection exists between the adverse actions and Lt.

McAfee’s report of discrimination because the adverse actions were taken shortly

after Lt. McAfee opposed and reported discrimination.

77. Lt. McAfee has been injured as a result of the County’s actions.

78. Lt. McAfee is entitled to: back pay and benefits, reinstatement (or

front pay and benefits in lieu of reinstatement), and interest (both pre and post-

judgment).

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79. As a further result of the County’s actions, Lt. McAfee is also entitled

to general damages due to his emotional distress and damage to his reputation, and

loss of enjoyment of life.

80. Lt. McAfee is also entitled to recover his attorney’ fees and costs

incurred in bringing this action.

REQUEST FOR JURY TRIAL

Plaintiff requests a trial by jury of any issue triable of right by jury.

PRAYER FOR RELIEF

WHEREFORE, Plaintiff respectfully requests that the Court enter

judgment in his favor and against Defendants, and award the following relief:

a. Back pay and benefits, in amounts to be determined at trial, plus the

“gross up” of such award to account for income tax consequences;

b. Compensatory (emotional distress) and consequential damages;

c. Punitive damages as allowable;

d. Reinstatement and/or front pay and benefits in lieu of reinstatement;

e. Injunctive and/or declaratory relief;

f. Pre-judgment and post-judgment interest at the highest lawful rate;

g. Attorneys’ fees and costs of this action, including expert witness fees,

as appropriate; and

h. Any such further relief as justice allows.

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DATED this 7th day of May, 2018.

STRINDBERG & SCHOLNICK, LLC

/s/ Cameron Platt


Cameron Platt
Attorney for Plaintiff

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