Lawsuit filed against DOCJT by former employees alleges sexism, discrimination
Two women no longer employed at the department claim they were called "b****" by their superior
LEXINGTON, Ky. (WTVQ) — April O’Dea still remembers the day she left the Department of Criminal Justice Training.
O’Dea was in charge of training law enforcement officers across the state — a job she thought she would hold until retirement. Upon leaving, she recalls feeling as if she’d just had a bucket of cold water dumped on her.
It all started when O’Dea and Ashley Peercy reported a racist PowerPoint slide that was being used for training purposes.
The two say once they reported the slide — which labeled a charismatic African-American man as a ‘Romeo Pimp,’ and referred to an aggressive African-American man as a “Gorilla Pimp” — things began to go south.
“Obviously we were not expecting such repercussions to come to us. We were expecting somebody to say thank you for finding this and pointing it out,” says Ashley Peercy, who no longer works for the department, adding that the experience was a mentally taxing one.
“I was questioning what am I supposed to be doing since my job tasks are taken away and out of frustration which is what the deputy commission or Deputy Commissioner John Schwartz has relayed in an investigation by the justice cabinet was out of frustrations, called myself and another employee, a b****,” says O’Dea who — like Peercy — no longer works for the department.
Peercy and O’Dea are just several women in a lawsuit filed against the department back in 2021.
O’Dea explained, that after they found the PowerPoint slide, it was reported to the chain of command to potentially have it removed. The two later realized it had not been.
O’Dea and a colleague then reported it to the Internal Equal Opportunity Committee within the department. It was then sent to the Justice and Public Safety Cabinet and was meant to remain anonymous. From there, an investigation soon followed and — shortly after — O’Dea and Peercy were demoted.
“I was in a meeting with my new supervisor at the time, Patrick Miller, who is also still currently employed with DOCJT, and in meeting I had thrown out some ideas per ask to do so. Again, based on my experience and educational background. And I was told that they are a group of men and they are problem solvers, me being the only woman; I immediately, I mean that was very offensive to say that I’m a woman, not a problem solver,” said O’Dea.
Adding that it seemed like a domino effect, “I was forced to sit and work side by side with someone whose husband had treated me so horribly. I had that point, had several complaints and grievances filed. She was aware, and it made everything extremely difficult in working in that environment,” also added O’Dea.
Peercy and O’Dea are no longer employed with the department, and continue to seek justice not just for themselves, but for others, who they say are still living this nightmare.
“To date, the Deputy Commissioner John Schwartz has never been reprimanded for using the offensive language, b****, Commissioner Nikolai Jilek, has never been reprimanded for calling myself and a colleague, overpaid women, that do an irrelevant job task. I want accountability,” also says Peercy.”
ABC 36 News reached out to the Department of Criminal Justice Training with regards to the pending lawsuit, they sent the following statement:
” The Kentucky Department of Criminal Justice Training (DOCJT) is dedicated to meeting the needs of officers and dispatchers by making positive changes that enhance training and support the 8,000 law enforcement officers who serve and protect the commonwealth. Changes under this administration at DOCJT reflect the mission of the agency to move forward with the best criminal justice training and services while maintaining a professional and safe environment for all employees. Any claims to the contrary are meritless.” — Kelly Foreman, public information office supervisor at DOCJT.
