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Court: Sheriff's office not responsible in harassment case

Posted August 31, 2007 11:00 pm

Sarah Antonacci

In an apparent departure from standard practice in Illinois, an appellate court has ruled that the Sangamon County Sheriff's Office is not responsible for the actions of a sergeant who sexually harassed a female employee in 1998.

"Without going into a lot of detail, I feel vindicated," Sheriff Neil Williamson said Friday.

"I feel my name and the sheriff's office was dragged through the mud, especially last October during the election. While the actions by the deputy were wrong, what we did as an administration was right. We did what was right and correct under the law and prevailed."

The case stemmed from the actions of Sgt. Ron Yanor toward sheriff's employee Donna Feleccia Scroggin. According to Scroggin's complaint, Yanor invited her to accompany him to a bar, came to her house uninvited with a cup full of Christmas candy, and forced her to kiss him.

He also sent her a letter written on Illinois Department of Public Health stationery that falsely indicated Scroggin had been exposed to a sexually transmitted disease. The letter said:

"This is to inform you that you may have recently been exposed to a communicable or sexually transmitted disease. A confidential source who has tested positive has brought this matter to our attention."

Scroggin's husband has said the letter set off a series of rumors that continue to haunt his wife. Yanor said the letter was meant to be a joke.

Yanor, who has been with the department more than 21 years, paid Scroggin $3,500 several years ago and bowed out of the complaint. He was married at the time. Scroggin was not.

Scroggin has worked for the sheriff's office for 16 years. She is in the records division.

The Illinois Human Rights Commission ruled in January 2006 that the sheriff's office should pay Scroggin $6,500 in damages and her attorney more than $13,000 in legal costs.

In another ruling, the commission called Williamson's response to the allegations of harassment "reprehensible."

The commission indicated that suspending Yanor for four days was too light a punishment and found that Williamson had told the victim not to go public with her complaint.

Williamson has maintained all along that, while Yanor's behavior was clearly wrong, he believes the sheriff's office did all it could to respond to the complaint - including sending the health department letter to the crime lab to determine who sent it to Scroggin.

The Human Rights Commission also criticized the sheriff's department for not pursuing criminal prosecution of Yanor. At the time, the sheriff said he understood the health department was not interested in prosecuting Yanor, though the health department sent a letter to the state's attorney's office stating otherwise.

State's Attorney John Schmidt has said his office never received a police report on the incident.

Scroggin's attorney, Mary Lee Leahy of Springfield, said the appellate court ruling marks a legal departure in how Illinois courts treat harassment complaints.

Leahy said the Human Rights Commission has interpreted the law for decades to mean that, if harassment is committed by a supervisor - whether or not that supervisor has direct authority over the victim - the employer is liable for damages.

Instead, Leahy said, the 4th District ruling adopted the federal standard for such cases. The federal rule says that if an employee reports sexual harassment and no further harassment occurs subsequently, "the employer is off the hook."

"For at least 20 years, the interpretation in Illinois had been the other way," Leahy said.

The Illinois attorney general's office represented the Human Rights Commission in the appeal. Scott Mulford, a spokesman for the attorney general, said this week the agency "will be taking a thorough look and review of the appellate court's decision."

The AG's office could ask the Illinois Supreme Court for permission to appeal the case further.

Sarah Antonacci can be reached at (217) 788-1529 or sarah.antonacci@sj-r.com.

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