By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
Sitka Police Officer Mary Ferguson filed a lawsuit this morning against the city, the Sitka Police Department and Chief Jeff Ankerfelt, claiming she was treated differently because of her gender, and punished for complaining about problems in the department, including sexual harassment.
She is asking for a jury trial, and seeking declaratory and injunctive relief; actual and compensatory and punitive damage; costs of litigation; and other damages.
Ferguson had previously filed a formal complaint with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Her domestic partner, Ryan Silva, also is suing the city, the department and Ankerfelt. Both are being represented by the Northern Justice Project of Anchorage.
Ferguson said in her complaint that in her work she has been subjected “to comments about her gender, and management has ignored instances of flagrant sexual harassment and retaliated against her efforts to bring attention to the gender dynamics in the department.”
“This lawsuit is brought to reform the SPD for the benefit of future women officers,” the lawsuit says.
Ferguson was hired in March 2014 as a part-time traffic officer, and as a sworn officer in 2015, with additional detective duties in mid January 2018. She said the problems in the department started in the fall of 2016. She said she was sexually harassed by another member of the department sending her “inappropriate and creepy” texts about her dating life and appearances and that she wasn’t the first to be harassed. She said that “SPD management did nothing whatsoever...”
She said she reported the problem to superiors, who “took no action whatsoever.”
The lawsuit said she has faced “nonstop gender discrimination” during her time with the department, with superiors questioning her abilities more than those of male detectives and officers. That includes suggestions by a superior to switch to a smaller gun to accommodate the smaller size of “female hands” and that “women multi-task better than men.” She said her work was second-guessed and that she had to take on a larger workload than her male co-worker in the unit.
She complained both to Ankerfelt and City Administrator Keith Brady on more than one occasion but they took no action, the lawsuit says. She said she was demoted as a result of making complaints.
“Everybody within the police department was shocked at their decision to demote officer Ferguson and caused other members of the department to become even more fearful of retaliation and anxiety by the chief and its leadership by terror and intimidation,” the lawsuit says.
She filed a complaint with the EEOC on July 17, and was placed on administrative leave on July 27, which has kept her from entering the police station or keeping current on cases.
“This is retaliatory, given officer Ferguson is not the accused. She simply brought forward complaints of illegal practices,” the civil claim says.
Ferguson’s complaint states that after a city investigation of her claims she was told on Tuesday, Oct. 9, that “although she had been sexually harassed ...,” she needed to report for duty on October 10.
“The city confirmed in this letter that she had been a ‘rising star’ within the department. The city nonetheless contended officer Ferguson’s demotion and the gender-based comments were made for ‘legitimate business reasons,’” Ferguson said in the lawsuit. She said the demotion was intended to push her out of the department.
She charges that the defendants violated the Alaska Human Rights Act, the federal Civil Rights Act, the “implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing,” and the Alaska Whistleblower Act; and intentionally and negligently inflicted emotional distress against her.
