By Sentinel Staff
Superior Court Judge Trevor Stephens on Wednesday scheduled an evidentiary hearing for Nov. 25 and 26 in the Mary Ferguson lawsuit against the City and Borough of Sitka, Sitka Police Department and former police chief Jeff Ankerfelt.
Ferguson was hired as a traffic officer in 2014, became a sworn police officer in 2015, and was promoted to detective in 2017. Her lawsuit, filed last October, claims she experienced discrimination because of her gender and suffered retaliation for speaking out. Her complaint says the city’s and department’s conduct “caused and continues to cause (Ferguson) extreme and emotional distress.”
The police department placed Ferguson on administrative leave on July 27, 2018, and notified her this past Friday that her employment with the department was terminated, Ferguson said today.
At Wednesday’s scheduling conference, Stephens set a pre-trial conference for Feb. 14, 2020. The trial has been set for March 2 through 13.
In a recent ruling, the judge denied the city’s motion for summary judgment on six of 12 issues of gender discrimination and gender-based hostile work environment alleged by Ferguson. He ruled in favor of the city in his summary judgment dismissal of six other allegations in Ferguson’s lawsuit. The city had claimed all of Ferguson’s charges were barred by the statute of limitations.
Ferguson’s lawsuit is one of three currently in court that were filed by Sitka Police Department employees alleging unlawful discrimination by city and police department officials.
