A Cole County jury found in favor of a former deputy director of the Missouri Department of Public Safety who sued the department for age discrimination.
According to online court records, the jury ruled Dawn Warren-Cook should be awarded compensatory damages against defendants Ernie Rhodes for whistleblowing and hostile work environment based on sex; Todd Farley for whistleblowing; and against the DPS for a hostile work environment based on sex. The jurors assessed the compensatory damages at $85,000.
The Attorney General's Office, which represented the state in the suit, did not comment about the ruling.
Cook, who filed the suit in August 2017, started with the department in 2007, working at the State Emergency Management Agency, according to court documents.
In her suit, Cook said as part of the change in administration with the election of a new governor, she was demoted from deputy director to logistics chief.
Rhodes was appointed SEMA director in February 2017 and, according to the suit, "treated Cook in a dismissive and disrespectful manner."
Cook said she complained to human resources in March 2017 she was being discriminated against but got no action, and in May 2017, she was put on administrative leave without being told the basis for the action.
Prior to being put on leave, Cook said, she had concerns about an outside organization being employed to manage the SEMA Operations Center. She noted when large rainstorms occurred in April and May 2017, causing major flooding, a change in communication methods resulted in delays and miscommunication. Instead of organizing efforts with local coordinators, the state sent response teams with no notice or understanding of the requests by local coordinators.
Cook said Rhodes assumed control over the flood incidents without a declaration by the governor. She added Rhodes and Farley, who supervised Cook as logistics chief prior to her dismissal, wanted her and the logistics staff to procure 200,000 additional sandbags for the Black River Coliseum in Poplar Bluff. She informed them the coliseum was being used as a shelter and didn't have the 2 acres needed to house the additional sand, but the order was given to send sandbags, which she said wasted state funds.
After this, Cook said, she was publicly reprimanded. DPS investigated her claims of discrimination in June 2017, and she was eventually told there was no evidence to support her claims. She was fired in July 2017.
