Click here to subscribe today or Login.
WILKES-BARRE — Luzerne County administration has urged the county council to approve a $110,000 settlement in a federal lawsuit filed by an ex-corrections officer who alleged prison officials violated the Americans with Disabilities Act by refusing her a job post with immediate restroom access.
Kingston resident Susan Jockel, who settled with the county in an unrelated sexual discrimination suit in 2005, sued the county, the Luzerne County Correctional Facility and former Warden Joseph Piazza for punitive damages in 2014 on claims she wasn’t provided “reasonable accommodations” for a gastrointestinal disability.
A proposed resolution on the county council’s July 26 meeting agenda authorizing the settlement says Luzerne County Manager David Pedri, county solicitor Romilda P. Crocamo, and the defendants’ lawyers in the matter, Elliott Greenleaf & Dean, recommend its approval.
The proposed settlement would result in Jockel dropping all pending claims against the county related to her employment, according to the agenda item.
“The county’s exposure will be greater than the settlement amount” should the case proceed to trial, it states.
Jockel, who worked at the prison from 1996 to 2014, formally petitioned Piazza in 2011 for a transfer to the minimal offender’s unit — which she believed provided more immediate restroom access — after her symptoms worsened, according to the six-count complaint, filed by Kingston-based attorney Gregory E. Fellerman.
The complaint states Jockel had undergone numerous surgical procedures for longstanding gastrointestinal issue that, “at a minimum,” required immediate access to a restroom.
Staffing posts at the prison require constant surveillance and are troublesome for Jockel because she can’t use the restroom until she finds a temporary replacement to cover her post, the complaint says. Piazza allegedly moved her to a control room, which had access to a restroom but still required Jockel to find a temporary replacement if she left her post.
Jockel alleges her accommodations were met for the next three months, but claims prison officials in September 2011 filed disciplinary action against her for taking time off after her home flooded. She claimed no other officers were disciplined.
At a meeting the following month, Piazza “denied (Jockel) representation of her union steward, required (Jockel) to remain seated under threat of insubordination, verbally berated her with a dash of profanity and made threats against her employment,” the complaint says.
It further states: “(Jockel) feared for her job: her livelihood.”
Piazza could not be reached Wednesday.
The former warden ended her accommodations in 2014 and put her back into her traditional rotation for the remainder of her employment at the prison, in which her disability was allegedly made public knowledge, the complaint says.
“As a result, (Jockel) suffered mental anguish, embarrassment and anxiety and found it somewhat difficult dealing with her colleagues based on her knowledge that they were aware of something so intimately personal,” the complaint says.
Jockel took disability leave beginning July 1, 2012 until she was informed via letter that her position was deemed “abandoned.”
County and prison officials denied the allegations.
Jockel’s prior settlement with the county arose out of a lawsuit alleging she requested light duty in June and July 1999 when she was pregnant. Soon after, the prison implemented a policy that limited light duty to employees who were injured on the job, the suit said.
The prison’s then-warden, Gene Fischi, denied the allegations in a 2005 Times Leader report, saying Jockel was offered light duty but had refused.
The settlement amount reached in that matter is unknown.