Claim alleges gender bias at sheriff's office

SANDPOINT - A former records clerk at the Bonner County Sheriff's Office is seeking damages from the county for wrongful termination and discrimination.

Eileen Ocano is seeking a reasonable severance package, attorney's fees and unspecified damages for pain and suffering. Ocano also seeks a public apology from Sheriff Daryl Wheeler.

Ocano filed the tort claim in 1st District Court on Wednesday. It is a notice of intent to sue if damages are not awarded.

Wheeler, acting on the advice of legal counsel, declined to comment on the matter on Thursday.

Ocano was hired as a jail records clerk in 2003 and was transferred to a front-office records clerk position in 2009, according to the claim. Ocano advised the sheriff's office she had an ongoing medical condition when she was hired and said in the claim that former sheriffs Phil Jarvis and Elaine Savage granted reasonable accommodations for the condition.

Wheeler initially granted those same accommodations, the claim said.

Ocano did not report for her scheduled shift at the sheriff's office on Sept. 18, 2014, and was told in writing the same day that she was being fired.

"Your failure to show up to scheduled work shift is considered to abandonment of your employment. Your employment at the Bonner County Sheriff's Office is terminated effective immediately," Wheeler said in a written memo to Ocano that was filed along with the tort claim.

Ocano, however, maintains that her absence due to illness was authorized by her direct supervisor, a fact which would have emerged had an investigation been conducted, the claim said.

Ocano further alleges that she was fired due to unlawful discrimination based upon disability and gender. She asserts that Wheeler has made remarks about preferring to work alongside men rather than women.

"Your continued bias towards women in the workplace is further evidenced by your bias towards me," Ocano said in the claim.

Ocano asserts that Wheeler's alleged bias violates federal Equal Employment Opportunity rules. She also contends that Wheeler challenged her unemployment insurance benefits and falsely claimed to the Idaho Department of Labor that she quit her job.