Ex-officer fails to prove discrimination Human rights commission rejects claim against Knox County Sheriff’s Department

AUGUSTA – A former corrections officer for the Knox County Sheriff’s Department failed Monday to convince the Maine Human Rights Commission that her supervisor had discriminated against her.

Andrea Boynton of Coopers Mills said she had worked at the Sheriff’s Department for six years when she was fired last October because of her gender. The Sheriff’s Department countered that Boynton had, in fact, resigned.

Both parties agreed that last May, Boynton had failed to perform a medical watch on a sick inmate who was supposed to be observed every 15 minutes. The inmate subsequently fell into a coma during her shift and had to be taken to a Rockland hospital from which he eventually was released.

Boynton maintained that the shift supervisor whom she relieved had not carried out the medical watch and she assumed the inmate was no longer on medical watch. When Sheriff’s Department supervisors began their review of the incident they determined that Boynton had not made any effort to verify her assumption and “refused to accept any responsibility for her actions.”

“Yes, I could have done more than what I did, but so could [the previous shift supervisor],” Boynton told Susan Clark, an investigator with the commission. “The job description doesn’t say you have to be a mind reader or a hundred percent accurate a hundred percent of the time. People are human and humans make human errors.”

Boynton also told the investigator that she is a gay woman and that she suspected that her supervisor may have been biased against her because of her sexual orientation, a class not protected under the Maine Human Rights Act.

Clark concluded that Boynton was the officer in charge when the inmate’s condition worsened and that she was the person responsible for the oversight and the person who was going to have to answer for that error.

“There is no evidence to show that the real reason [Boynton] bore the brunt of the consequences was her gender; it is just as likely that her status as the officer in charge when the inmate was found meant that eyes naturally turned toward her.”

The commission found that no reasonable grounds existed to overturn the investigator’s recommendation. All complaints supported by the commission proceed to conciliation hearings. If that process fails, the complaint continues to Superior Court where a final settlement can include monetary damages.

The commission also rejected discrimination complaints filed by:

. Samantha Sargent of Embden against the Somerset County Sheriff’s Department.

. Christopher Halco of Waldoboro against the Knox County Sheriff’s Department.

. Shirley Payer of Holden against the Bangor Mental Health Institute.

. Louis Janicki of Hampden against John Bapst Memorial High School of Bangor.

. Henry Rauschnot of Patten against Cianbro Corp. of Pittsfield.

. Amy Worster of Florida against the Irving Oil Corp. of Bangor.