Former MDC employee awarded $244,000 in lawsuit

HELENA (AP) — A federal jury has awarded $244,000 in damages to a former employee of the Montana Developmental Center who alleged she was fired in retaliation for contacting an advocacy group with her concerns about a patient.

A U.S. District Court jury in Helena reached its verdict on Aug. 29 in the lawsuit former psychology specialist Elizabeth Pritchard-Sleath brought against the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services.

Jurors deliberated for about 90 minutes after a weeklong trial, Sleath’s attorney Rick Sherwood told The Associated Press yesterday.

Health Department spokesman Jon Ebelt said the agency has 30 days to decide if it will appeal the verdict, but otherwise declined to comment.

The lawsuit alleged managers at the center in Boulder began a campaign to discredit and discipline Sleath after she told the group Disability Rights Montana in July 2010 that facility administrators rejected her recommendation that a developmentally disabled patient be given one-to-one supervision because she was concerned he would harm himself.

Disability Rights Montana, which has the authority to investigate incidents of abuse and neglect of people with developmental disabilities, required the residential facility that cares for people with developmental disabilities to follow Sleath’s recommendation.

Shortly after that, the lawsuit alleges, MDC managers retaliated against Sleath by giving her written warnings for giving a client candy and chewing gum and suspending her without pay on several occasions. She said she was placed on administrative leave in August 2010 after a patient said she encouraged him to run away from MDC and move in with her for romantic reasons.

Sherwood argued that the patient who made the statement was inclined to make up stories.

“It was our contention that that was absurd,” Sherwood said.

Sleath was fired in May 2011 and filed the lawsuit in August 2012.

Sherwood said they offered evidence that Montana Developmental Center managers discouraged employees from furnishing information to Disability Rights Montana.

A CPA testified that Sleath’s damages were $244,329 in lost pay and benefits, and jurors awarded that amount, Sherwood said.