Trial Begins Over Dispatcher’s Claim—Forced Out

A federal court jury began hearing testimony on Monday in a civil lawsuit brought by a former Columbus (Ohio) police dispatcher who claims she was forced out of her job because she protested the department’s sick leave reporting policy. Teresa Ruby is asking for $700,000 in damages, saying her resignation came after a year of harassment from police officials. City officials say Ruby was attempting to avoid working mandatory overtime, and that she failed to follow the usual union-approved grievance procedures to resolve her issues. In a parallel lawsuit filed in 2008 by Ruby and several other dispatchers over police department sick leave reporting procedures a federal judge issued an injunction last July halting the city from requiring that dispatcher provide a doctor’s note to line supervisors when they return from sick leave. A trial on that lawsuit is scheduled for March 8th.

Meanwhile, the city’s attorneys have appealed the injunction. In the current trial, the city’s attorneys asked that Ruby’s lawyer’s be prohibited from introducing information about the medical privacy lawsuit, but the judge denied the motion. Download (pdf) the original lawsuit complaint and several other court documents here, and read about the first day of trial here.