Jail bosses accused of retaliation
03-30-2010 The Billings Gazette
A woman employed at the Yellowstone County Detention Facility has filed a discrimination complaint against her bosses.In a complaint filed in late November with the state Human Rights Bureau, Jolene Blotkamp-Wilson alleges gender discrimination and claims that she has been “subject to retaliation for reporting sexual harassment and wage discrimination” by Sheriff’s Capt. Dennis McCave, who supervises the county jail.
Blotkamp-Wilson filed the discrimination complaint on Nov. 24. It names McCave and Sheriff Jay Bell as respondents.
Complaint received
Deputy Yellowstone County Attorney Kevin Gillen acknowledged Friday that the county has received the complaint, which is being investigated by the Human Rights Bureau. Gillen declined to comment on the allegations.
Blotkamp-Wilson also declined to comment on the allegations in her Human Rights Bureau complaint, but she said she filed the document only after the county concluded its own investigation. Blotkamp-Wilson first complained about McCave to Bell in August.
“The Sheriff’s Office pretty much substantiated the complaints, but I don’t see where there was any punishment,” she said.
Attached to the complaint is an Oct. 21 letter from Bell to McCave. The sheriff ordered McCave to attend “training to better educate you and to allow you to become more sensitive to the kinds of offensive or unacceptable behaviors in the workplace.”
In her Human Rights Bureau complaint, Blotkamp-Wilson states that the county’s human resources director, Dwight Vigness, investigated her complaints in September and issued a report late that month. She describes the report by Vigness as incomplete and “heavily biased to Capt. McCave.”
A message left for McCave on Friday was not returned.