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JUSTICE DEPARTMENT SUES OHIO COUNTY SHERIFF

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Justice Department today sued a northern Ohio Sheriff for discriminating against women when hiring county corrections professionals.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Cleveland, alleges that William Johnson, the Sheriff of Ashtabula County, who is named in his official capacity, violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by discriminating against Celecia E. Dibble and other women by refusing to hire or even consider hiring them for corrections officer and corrections officer/medical officer positions because of their sex. The lawsuit also alleges that the sheriff refused to hire or consider hiring Dibble in retaliation for her charge of discrimination with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). The Ashtabula County Board of Commissioners, which appropriates funds for the operation of the Sheriffs' Department, is also named as a defendant in the complaint.

"The Justice Department is committed to eradicating sex discrimination in law enforcement," said Bill Lann Lee, Acting Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights. "No individual should be denied the opportunity to work solely because of his or her gender."

The Justice Department conducted an investigation of the charge after receiving a referral from the EEOC, which received Dibble's complaint in 1996. In her charge with the EEOC, Dibble alleged that she had volunteered as an Auxiliary Deputy Sheriff on the Ashtabula County Sheriff's Patrol but was denied hire for a full-time position as a corrections officer/medical officer because she is a woman. The EEOC referred the case to the Justice Department after finding reasonable cause to believe that the allegations of discrimination were true and efforts to conciliate the matter failed.

The Justice Department's lawsuit asks the court to enter an order requiring the sheriff and the county to provide appropriate remedial relief to Dibble and other women who have suffered loss as a result of the alleged discrimination and to take other appropriate measures to overcome the effects of discrimination.

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