Jury awards former Jackson County sheriff’s deputy $7 million in age discrimination case
A Jackson County jury has awarded nearly $7 million to a former county sheriff’s deputy who alleged age and disability discrimination and a hostile work environment.
Doug Caster, now 67, had worked for the sheriff’s office for nearly 34 years when he filed a civil lawsuit in 2016 against Jackson County. In his lawsuit, Caster alleged that then-Sheriff Mike Sharp and his undersheriff Hugh Mills targeted older deputies and others, creating harsh and toxic working conditions that eventually forced some to retire.
“I think the jury was trying to send a message to Jackson County,” said attorney Dave Lunceford, who represented Caster. “They shouldn’t try to wreck someone’s career who’s standing up against blatantly ageist comments against people with disabilities.”
Caster sued the county for age discrimination, disability discrimination, hostile work environment and retaliation.
In reaching its unanimous verdict on Friday, jurors awarded Caster $6.98 million in damages.
Nodaway County Circuit Judge Roger M. Pokes presided over the nine-day trial.
“I urged the jury, ‘you are the ones that need to step up and be 12 heroes, acting with one voice,’” said Dennis Egan, another attorney for Caster. “And that’s what they did.”
County Counselor Bryan Covinsky said the county declined to comment about the jury’s verdict or specific allegations in the civil case.
“We are weighing all of the options that are available to us at this point,” Covinsky said. “We respect and honor the service provided by the jurors and their decision.”
In court filings, county officials denied the allegations.
According to the lawsuit, Caster said he noticed changes within the office immediately after Sharp took office in 2009. Several senior deputies were either terminated or forced to resign in the years after Sharp’s election.
Caster said in court records that Sharp and Mills were overheard saying that they wanted to “get rid of the old bastards.”
Sharp was elected in 2008 and cruised to re-election twice. But he was forced to resign in April 2018 amid revelations that he kept up an ongoing romantic, sexual and financial relationship with a sheriff’s office employee while she had a pending lawsuit against Jackson County for harassment.
Former Kansas City Police Chief Darryl Forté was chosen by County Executive Frank White to become interim sheriff after Sharp’s resignation. Forté was elected to the office in 2020, soundly defeating Sharp in his bid to recapture the office.
Caster, who is diabetic, experienced double vision in 2014, which required him to take a medical leave. Mills, his supervisor, told Caster he could not come back to work if his eyesight wasn’t corrected and he should consider retirement, according to the court records.
The continued harsh treatment prompted Caster to file an internal complaint with the county’s human resources department against Mills. In his complaint, Caster said that he and other deputies noticed Mills being hostile towards older deputies and those with health issues. Mills made derogatory comments about “sick guys.”
In July 2015, Caster suffered foot neuropathy requiring surgery and he went on medical leave. While he was not working, a friend contacted Caster and asked if he could help his daughter deal with a legal matter and get into drug treatment.
As Caster helped his friend’s daughter, two sheriff’s captains delivered a letter to his home that said he was “under investigation” for “associating with a known criminal element, prevarication, and tampering with physical evidence,” according to the court filings in the lawsuit.
Detectives with the sheriff’s office questioned the friend’s daughter while she was in custody on a forgery charge over whether she had “traded sexual favors” for Caster’s help. Caster said the accusation was untrue.
The captains told Caster the internal investigation would go away if he retired. But Caster refused to retire because he said he hadn’t done anything wrong.
Earlier that year Caster was given an “exceeds expectations” on a job performance evaluation, but on Sept. 23, 2015, he was suspended without pay, the petition stated.
Caster returned to work five days later and found his desk had been moved into a hallway and his job duties had changed.
On Dec. 10, 2015, Caster received a letter from Dennis Dumovitch, the county’s human resources director, acknowledging that his complaint had been received, but said the human resources department was “too busy” to look at it until 2016, according to court filings.
The county counselor’s office summoned Caster to ask him about another matter. Upon arriving in the counselor’s office, Caster told them that his attorney instructed him not to speak without the attorney being present.
Jared Bustamante, the assistant county counselor at the time, told Caster that he could lose his job if he did not cooperate with them, Lunceford said.
Caster was terminated on Dec. 21, 2015, and later filed a civil lawsuit against the sheriff’s office alleging age and disability discrimination and retaliation.
In other court filings, Sharp allegedly said “If you sue me, you’re going to do it from your couch.”
In its response to the lawsuit, the county denied Caster’s allegations and said the termination was for rules violations.
This story was originally published April 27, 2022 at 12:15 PM.
