Steelville Police Officer Margaret Flatt has filed a lawsuit against the city of Steelville and former officer Eric Schafer, alleging sexual discrimination and retaliation and seeking a judgment in her favor for more than $25,000.

According to the plaintiff’s petition for damages on file in the case, Flatt reported to Chief Mike Guess that Schafer had “acted inappropriately with minor females by having physical contact with them while he was on duty.”

At the time, Schafer was a corporal in the police department and thus Flatt’s supervisor. As a result of the report, Flatt stated Schafer then harassed and retaliated against her in a variety of ways, including sending her home early from shifts and causing her to lose overtime benefits, leaving disciplinary notes to her on display for other officers to see, changing her time card, failing to share information on open cases she was investigating, failing to work with her when called for back-up to a scene, not letting her smoke in the patrol car, failing to let her know when he was on duty, thus causing her to work late, failing to communicate with her on what events had transpired during his shift at shift change and failing to provide a safe working environment for her.

Flatt alleged that the other officers, who were men, were not treated in the same manner and the petition further states that the City of Steelville did not take appropriate action to amend the situation.

Damages sustained as asserted by Flatt are loss of earnings, mental and physical suffering, mental distress, loss of professional standing and prestige, monetary damages and attorneys’ fees.
“We feel we didn’t do anything wrong and we want the truth to be known,” said Mayor Terry Palmer. “That’s why we’re going to court. We feel if you just make a settlement, it looks like you’re guilty. We take sexual harassment and discrimination very seriously here.”

Palmer explained the city initially became away of the allegations when Flatt filed a charge of discrimination with the Missouri Commission on Human Rights in October of 2008. As a result, the city agreed to mediation with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) but would not agree to a settlement with Flatt, because they felt it looked like an admission of guilt.

During this time, the city also hired a private investigator to look at the situation. The city council held a meeting with the police chief where they demoted Schafer from his position as corporal and suspended him from duty for a time. The chief also changed the police department scheduling so that Flatt and Schafer did not work together.

The mayor additionally noted that the report the city received initially was that Schafer had had inappropriate verbal contact with the minor females, not physical contact. He also pointed out that there were no charges filed against Schafer or the city resulting from that situation. He explained the reason the city hired a private investigator was that the Crawford County Sheriff’s Department declined to investigate, based on the fact that they often work with the Steelville Police Department, and the Missouri Highway Patrol also refused to conduct an investigation.

Flatt declined to comment to Three Rivers Publishing, referring questions to her attorney, Steve Paulus, and Guess did they same, referring inquiries to City Attorney Brooks Kenagy. Schafer simply stated he was not surprised by Flatt’s legal action.