A former state corrections officer who worked in Livingston County has filed a lawsuit against the Michigan Department of Corrections, saying the agency discriminated against her based on her sexual orientation and race.
In the lawsuit, Ashley Menchaca alleges that the MDOC discriminated against her because she is Hispanic and gay.
Menchaca worked as a corrections officer at the Woodland Center Facility, a prison in Whitmore Lake for male prisoners with serious mental illnesses, from January 2016 until she resigned in May of last year.
Menchaca and her lawyers from Rasor Law Firm say that Menchaca, as a Hispanic homosexual woman, was "in the minority at MDOC and the Woodland Center Facility."
The original complaint was filed March 16, and an amended complaint, in which MDOC is listed as the sole defendant, was filed June 6.
MDOC spokesman Chris Gautz said employees are required to attend mandatory anti-discrimination workshops every year and that MDOC directors have made anti-discrimination a focus.
He said the department does not comment on ongoing cases.
Gautz said this is the first case of an MDOC employee alleging discrimination based on sexual orientation that resulted in litigation.
Menchaca said in her complaint that her supervisors at times did not allow her to go to the bathroom and disciplined her on another occasion for for using the bathroom.
She also said she was called a "dominant woman" and threatened with discipline if she chose to continue working at the facility, according to the lawsuit.
Upon returning to work one week, Menchaca said she was asked how her "weekend trip to Mexico" had gone, despite having had no trip planned. She said her supervisors were spreading a rumor that she had left the country.
Additionally, she said her supervisors required her to sit on a hard stool at her work station but replaced that stool with a cushioned chair when others were assigned to the station.
The lawsuit alleges the state and MDOC discriminated against Menchaca, an openly gay corrections officer, based on her sexual orientation, in violation of a federal anti-discrimination statue.
Michigan does not currently recognize sexual orientation as a protected class.
"To us, it is important because, beyond the fact that what happened to Ashley, employers are technically allowed to discriminate based on sexual orientation," Andrew Laurila, one of Menchaca's lawyers, said.
In 2006, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals held that protections under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 did not extend to an individual's sexual orientation.
"You could get married on Saturday in a same-sex marriage and get fired for it on Monday." Laurila said. "They should not be able to discriminate against employees based on their sexual orientation like they should not be able to discriminate based on age or race."
The Second Circuit, which covers parts of the East Coast, as well as the Seventh Circuit covering Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin, have previously ruled sexual orientation as a protected class.
MDOC, in its written response to the complaint, denied any discriminatory conduct and practices at the correctional center.
The agency filed a motion to dismiss Menchaca's complaint and said it "does not fit within the prohibitions of the law" and should be dismissed, the agency said.
It also denied any discriminatory conduct and practices at the correctional center.
Contact Kayla Daugherty at 517-552-2848 or kdaugherty@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @KayDaugherty92.
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