Former highway patrol majors sue Kansas, allege retaliation for harassment reports
Two former Kansas Highway Patrol majors are suing the agency, its leaders and the state, claiming they faced retaliation for reporting incidents of sexual harassment and gender discrimination.
Maj. Scott Harrington and Maj. Josh Kellerman were abruptly let go from the patrol in July after a state investigation failed to substantiate the allegations against the agency’s leader.
A news release from the governor’s office at the time said the majors were released as part of Superintendent Col. Herman Jones’ “efforts to make the Kansas Highway Patrol as effective as possible in achieving the agency’s mission.”
A lawsuit filed Friday in U.S. District Court for Kansas, however, alleges that the men were asked to resign or be fired following a series of retaliations by Jones and his Assistant Superintendent Jason DeVore because the majors had relayed reports of harassment and discrimination to human resources, the Kansas Office of Administration and various Kansas legislators.
“Throughout the complaint I think it’s pretty clear that they were trying very hard to make everyone who could do anything about the discrimination aware of the discrimination and try to stop it but that didn’t work out for them,” Kelly Trussell, the majors’ attorney, said.
A legislative audit of the terminations published last month concluded that the highway patrol did not violate state law or regulations in dismissing the majors.
The audit, Trussell said, did not evaluate the constitutional questions addressed in the lawsuit.
The Kansas Highway Patrol, State of Kansas, Jones and DeVore are all named as defendants in the suit.
In a statement, Saturday, a spokesperson for Gov. Laura Kelly said Jones and DeVore have her administration’s “full support.”
“The allegations raised in the lawsuit are not new and have been previously investigated and found to be unsubstantiated. Furthermore, an audit performed by the Kansas Legislative Division of Post Audit found that the Kansas Highway Patrol officials followed state law and regulations when dismissing these two majors,” the statement said.
A spokesperson for the Kansas Highway Patrol said the agency cannot comment on pending litigation.
Harassment complaints and Investigation
According to the suit Harrington and Kellerman each received several reports from female employees, beginning in June 2019, of a “hostile work environment” for women and various instances of sexual harassment and gender discrimination from Jones.
The reports, the suit said, included inappropriate comments, messages and touching as well as reports of individual women being singled out by Jones.
The men encouraged the employees to go to human resources, the suit said and made their own reports as well.
The Star was unable to reach Jones for comment.
After reporting the conduct to De Vore, the suit said, Harrington and Kellerman were excluded from meetings and had responsibilities revoked.
This continued as they reached out to officials in the department of administration and state legislature seeking advice and expressing concern about a pattern of behavior, the suit said.
Before and after the majors began reporting complaints, the suit said, Jones had made comments warning employees not to be “subversive.”
In February, the suit said, Harrington and Kellerman learned that the state was launching an investigation into the complaints.
Both majors were asked to resign shortly after the investigation was completed in July. When they asked why, the suit said, Jones responded “you know why.”
Women interviewed for the investigation and the agency’s human resources director, however, expressed doubts about the investigation. One of the women, according to the suit, said she felt attorneys interviewing her blamed her for the alleged harassment.
A July news release from the governor’s office announcing the investigations’ findings and the majors’ departure, said Jones frequently greeted employees by slapping their backs, shaking hands, patting shoulders, hugging, standing close to employees and making “awkward comments that were not of a sexual nature.”
Jones, the release said, told investigators he did not know his conduct made employees uncomfortable and would avoid such behavior in the future.
The investigation found the complaints against Jones to be unsubstantiated, ruling that his actions were not of a sexual nature or motivated by gender discrimination.
This story was originally published December 5, 2020 at 1:37 PM.
