CLEVELAND – (AP) The Bolivar County Sheriff’s Department is settling claims that a former jail supervisor was fired for filing a race discrimination complaint.
In a settlement with federal officials, outgoing Sheriff H.M “Mack” Grimmett agreed the department will pay Robert E. Brown $28,500 in back pay and $25,000 in damages. The sheriff, defeated this year, agreed the department will fund anti-discrimination training for supervisors and implement federally approved policies to prevent a repeat.
Brown is black. Grimmett is white.
After Brown filed a discrimination complaint in 2009, federal authorities said a supervisor wrote a report claiming Brown made derogatory statements about the jail warden and Grimmett. After the warden fired Brown, an investigation showed the report was false. But the warden didn’t forward investigation results to a panel that rejected Brown’s appeal.
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