NEWS

State agency sides with undersheriff in discrimination claim

The Associated Press

MISSOULA – The Montana Human Rights Bureau has sided with a former Missoula County undersheriff who says he was discriminated against by his political opponent.

Josh Clark complained he was demoted to night shift patrol duty in political retaliation after losing the 2014 sheriff’s election to T.J. McDermott. Clark eventually resigned from the department.

Deputy County Attorney Erica Grinde said that as sheriff, McDermott could structure the department as he saw fit. She noted that Clark’s reassignment followed the law because he was receiving the same pay he did prior to his being appointed undersheriff, and maintained his seniority.

McDermott and current Undersheriff Jason Johnson both won $60,000 settlements after complaining that former Sheriff Carl Ibsen discriminated against them after McDermott announced he was running for sheriff. Ibsen supported Clark’s candidacy. Other department employees have settled discrimination claims and a former deputy has filed a lawsuit alleging she was fired for political reasons.

Human Rights investigator Josh Manning said he was troubled throughout the process by the “petty personal attacks both parties used to color the way the Bureau would look at the people involved and left those details out of the report. It did not paint a good portrait of the people responsible for the public safety of one of Montana’s most populous counties.”

Manning’s report said he believed former sergeants Tony Rio and Bill Burt, were named captains for supporting McDermott’s candidacy.

The two sides have 30 days to negotiate a resolution or the case will go to a contested hearing.

Clark’s attorney, Quentin Rhoades, said $60,000 and an apology won’t settle the case because for Clark being a deputy sheriff “was who he was, not what he did.”