Two former employees of a Jefferson City mental health agency have taken their former employer to court, claiming they were let go because they reported mistreatment of a coworker and a client.
Kristina Lootens and Jerri Bowles have filed separate civil suits in Cole County court against New Horizons Community Support Services.
In their lawsuits, the two women said they were let go in April 2016 for reporting racial discrimination and harassment of a fellow employee and mistreatment of a disabled client.
According to their lawsuits, in January 2013 officials at New Horizons assigned an African-American case worker to a client who was known to have racist tendencies and had acted violently against case workers. A manager named in the lawsuits, Stacy Doggett, is reported to have said, "I have the perfect plan to get (the client) out of the program. Since (the client) is so racist, let's put her with (the women's coworker) and then (the client) will quit." By doing this, Lootens and Bowles said, the New Horizons officials believed they would not violate the terms of New Horizons agreement with the Department of Mental Health.
Court documents show the women's coworker eventually was attacked by the client and had to spend time in the hospital for treatment of injuries.
Lootens and Bowles reported their supervisor's actions to DMH and eventually they were fired for making those reports, their lawsuits claim.
Lootens and Bowles are asking the court to find that they subjected to unlawful retaliation.