By Mark Hansel
NKyTribune managing editor
A former associate professor has filed suit against Gateway Community & Technical College and former president Dr. G. Edward Hughes on five counts related to termination of employment.
The Kentucky Community & Technical College System (KCTCS) has also been named as a defendant.
The suit alleges Joseph Shearer, an instructor at Maysville Community & Technical College from 2006 to 2010 and at Gateway from August, 2012 to June 2015, was terminated in violation of school policy. Maysville CTC and Gateway CTC are both part of the KCTCS system.
The statement of the case indicates Shearer believes his termination, on June 30, 2015, was retaliation for a series of complaints about gender discrimination in his department, beginning in February 2014:
“Specifically, Plaintiff complained that one of the female professors (Diane Fritz) was being treated differently in an adverse fashion by the department head (Dr. Honu) because of his colleague’s gender.”
According to a Gateway organizational chart, Dr. Yohanes Honu was division chair of science technology and mathematics at that time.
Shearer complained that Fritz “was being evaluated more harshly than male employees, despite her excellent performance.”
Shearer indicates he made other complaints about gender discrimination and a gender hostile work environment to various officials, including the Provost, the then-President (Hughes) and human resources officials.
Click the image for a link to the full suit.
In the fall of 2014, according to the suit, Shearer, Fritz and other members of the department met with Gateway officials to convey their complaints about the department head named above.
On January 20, 2015, according to the filing, Fritz sent an email to then-Provost Sister Margaret Stallmeyer reiterating complaints about Honu, including:
“Gateway’s failure to protect Gateway faculty and staff from what she characterized as sexist behavior.’”
A day later, Shearer sent Stallmeyer an email indicating support for Fritz.
In April, 2015, Shearer indicates he repeated his criticism in an email to an associate dean and his belief that the “hostile work environment” created within the department violated Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972.
Title IX is a comprehensive federal law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in any federally funded education program or activity.
In June, 2015, Shearer received a final executed performance evaluation of “meets expectations” a downgrade from his previous evaluation of “exceeds expectations.”
Shearer appealed the evaluation in a letter to Hughes, repeating his concerns of discrimination against Fritz and another female professor in the department. He asserted that the downgraded evaluation was in direct retaliation for his actions in support of Fritz.
Shearer contends Hughes never responded to the appeal. On June 29, Shearer claims he was terminated “without prior notice of any kind and without affording him any opportunity to respond to the purported reason(s) for his termination…”
Hughes resigned abruptly in Sept. 2015 amid running tensions with the Gateway board of directors.
Shearer appealed his termination and the non-renewal of his contract through the process established by KCTCS policies, but says the appeal was ignored.
In the suit Shearer contends he was contractually entitled to continued employment as an associate professor through June, 2016 as indicated in Gateway Policy 6.4.3:
“All decisions on renewal of a contract or non-renewal of a contract will be made, and the employee will be notified in writing on or before May 1 of the final year of the contract.”
Based on this policy, Shearer contends he had a protected property interest in continuing his employment as an associate professor through at least June 30, 2016 and was deprived of that option or the opportunity to contest the decision to terminate his employment.
The interpretation of this policy, if accurate, has added significance because employees whose contracts were not renewed this year, in response to state budget cuts, appear to have been informed of the decision after May 1.
The counts listed in the filing contend a First Amendment violation, procedural due process violation, and retaliation, including retaliation in violation of Title VII and Title IX.
Shearer is seeking a judgement against the defendants and an award of compensatory damages consistent with the evidence developed at trial. This includes lost wages and benefits, emotional pain and suffering and injury to his personal reputation.
He is also seeking injunctive relief, including restoration of lost pay and benefits, an award of punitive damages in an amount to be determined at trial and an award of other relief in law and equity for attorney’s fees and other costs.
Suzanne Cassidy, an attorney representing Shearer in the suit, said she had no comment beyond what was contained in the filing.
The suit was filed May 24 in U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Kentucky in Covington.
Attorneys for Hughes, Gateway and KCTCS could not be reached for comment and there was no answer to the complaint on file at the time of publication of this story.
Editors note: all allegations against defendants in this story are contained in the suit filed in U.S. District Court on May 24, 2016. The suit represents the Plaintiff’s side of the issues; defendants have an opportunity to respond, but have not yet done so and could not be reached for comments.
Contact Mark Hansel at mark.hansel@nkytrib.com