Butte County Settles Racial Discrimination Suit with Former Sheriff’s Deputy

Butte County recently decided to settle a lawsuit filed by Michael Sears, a former deputy with the Butte County Sheriff’s department. Sears originally filed his lawsuit against the department and county after he allegedly experienced workplace discrimination, harassment, and retaliation over his race. The suit settled for $645,000 and will be paid to Sears and the law firm that represented him, Mastagni Holstedt, APC.

Butte County recently decided to settle a lawsuit filed by Michael Sears, a former deputy with the Butte County Sheriff’s department. Sears originally filed his lawsuit against the department and county after he allegedly experienced workplace discrimination, harassment, and retaliation over his race. The suit settled for $645,000 and will be paid to Sears and the law firm that represented him, Mastagni Holstedt, APC.

As part of the settlement agreement, the defendants, which include “Butte County, the Butte County Sheriff’s Office, former sheriff’s Capt. Andy Duch and Lt. John Kuhn,” did not admit any wrongdoing. Additionally, the county and Sears agreed not to “make disparaging comments about each other.”

But what happened, exactly, that prompted Sears to file the lawsuit. Well, it all began when he began working for the Sheriff’s Office in 2007. During his time working as a deputy, he claimed “department employees used racial slurs disparaging black people” and argued that he was “passed over for assignments because of his race and was harassed by colleagues in his workplace.” According to his suit, “Sears is described as African-American and Sicilian.”

In addition to the above-mentioned complaints, Sears also alleged in his lawsuit that back in 2010, a “stuffed panda doll was hung with a rope attached to a ceiling of a Sheriff’s Office facility, staying there for more than three years.” According to him, another deputy said the panda “effectively symbolized Sears because he is half-black and half-white.” As if that wasn’t enough, his complaint also alleged that a “poster depicting the ‘mug shots’ of public figures and celebrities, including Jesse Jackson and James Brown, was hung in his workplace, with his badge number written on the poster next to the photographs.”

Sears also argued that he was repeatedly passed over for other assignments and promotions that he was qualified for and that oftentimes those positions were filled by “less-qualified non-African-American candidates.”

At the time, the county pushed back against the allegations and said Sears’ work performance was to blame for his lack of promotions and transfer positions.

Fed up with how he was being treated, Sears eventually notified the Sheriff’s Office in late 2017 that he was going to “resign from the department because he had accepted a police officer position with the city of Oroville.” Shortly afterward, Sears filed his lawsuit and as soon as the Butte County NAACP found out about his experiences, it called for “reforms at the Sheriff’s Office, claiming the alleged problem of discriminatory conduct at the department has been pervasive and a part of its culture for years.”

Since the lawsuit was filed, Sheriff Kory Honea has spoken out and said the department is working to “to promote fairness throughout the Sheriff’s Office, including cultural diversity and procedural justice training.”

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Butte County settles racial discrimination lawsuit filed by former deputy

The N-word. A hanging panda. Deputy’s lawsuit says co-workers’ racism went on for years