TACOMA — A detective sergeant is suing the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department for alleged discrimination and retaliation against women.
Det. Sgt. Jessica Whitehead, a 15-year veteran, claims she was punished for asking to avoid child violence investigations after the death of her stepdaughter, a complaint made to Human Resources was mishandled and she was treated differently than male employees. She also alleges the department’s second-in-command called her and other female employees “b——-.”
A lawsuit was filed March 31 in Superior Court against the Sheriff’s Department, the county Human Resources Department, Undersheriff Brent Bomkamp, Chief Kevin Roberts and Lt. James Loeffelholz.
No specific damages are outlined in the lawsuit.
“After Whitehead and another female officer found a solution to Whitehead’s mental health needs, Bomkamp complained that she and women like her were (expletive), and Defendants began retaliating against her and sabotaging her training,” the lawsuit states.
Adam Faber, spokesperson for the Pierce County Prosecutor’s Office, which represents the Sheriff’s Department in legal matters, said he cannot comment on pending litigation.
Whitehead is one of 163 women in a department of 667 employees, according to county statistics.
She was promoted to Detective Sergeant in 2019. Months before, her stepdaughter died, and the death had a traumatic effect on her. Then, Chief Roberts, a lieutenant at the time, told her she was going to be assigned to the Special Assault Unit, which involves investigating cases where children are victims of violent and sexual crimes.
Ultimately, Whitehead was not assigned to the unit, but that decision didn’t come until the counselor she had begun seeing said Whitehead would be placed on PTSD leave if the department transferred her.
Improper investigation
In April 2019, a male officer allegedly overheard Undersheriff Bomkamp make a sexist comment to another man in department leadership.
“What’s up with females in this department?” Bomkamp said. “Once they get promoted, they become total b——.”
Whitehead filed an equal employment opportunity complaint with Human Resources in January 2020 to report sexism she’d observed. An interview with an Human Resources investigator was scheduled for July. Between the filing of the complaint and the interview, Whitehead said she witnessed a male chief berating women over child care issues caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the lawsuit, Whitehead did not see male staff with children treated this way.
Whitehead’s complaint also alleged an improper investigation into Bomkamp’s comments.
About a month before the complaint was filed, Roberts allegedly asked two women detectives whether they intended to apply for an upcoming promotion. One replied, “you’re all sexist, so no.” According to the lawsuit, Roberts asked them if they were referring to Bomkamp’s comments.
The lawsuit claims the department did not abide by its own policy when investigating the undersheriff’s comments. Instead, it says, a lieutenant not named as a defendant began questioning female detectives, stating that the undersheriff was “pissed” that someone reported it.
Delays in the investigation hampered it further. According to the lawsuit, the witness who overheard Bomkamp’s comments was not interviewed until more than a year after the incident.
This isn’t the first time the Sheriff’s Department has been sued over allegations of gender discrimination. In November, three black women who work in Pierce County Jail sued, claiming a pattern of discrimination and retaliation existed at the department that harmed minority employees.
Court records show that Pierce County Superior Judge Thomas Quinlan agreed with the women’s claims and ordered the county last month to pay the defendants a total $850,000 in damages, plus about $200,000 in attorney fees.
And in 2017, the Pierce County Council approved a $680,000 settlement for a similar lawsuit alleging a pattern of harassment and discrimination at the Sheriff’s Department.
According to Whitehead’s lawsuit, the Human Resources Department acknowledged that the Sheriff’s Department has a history of sexist conduct in its report on her complaint. However, the investigator dismissed Whitehead’s allegations and said the department’s history of sexism actually made it less likely that she would have experienced sexism there.
