A former Iowa prison employee who claimed she was fired after complaining about harassment has been awarded $1.25 million by a Polk County jury.
Jennifer Wilson-Brady was hired to work in the kitchen at Mount Pleasant Correctional Facility in February 2021. In June of that year, though, she was terminated by the Department of Corrections. In her lawsuit, filed in 2022, she alleged she was fired because she had complained to her supervisors about coworker Byron Stevens, who she said had made sexist remarks about “feminazis,” had screamed at and berated her, and had physically intimidated her.
According to Wilson-Brady’s complaint, Stevens was suspended during an investigation, but on the same day that he returned to work, she was fired, supposedly for being a “security risk.” Her firing came less than three weeks after she had received a positive performance review.
After a four-day trial, the jury sided with Wilson-Brady, finding her firing had been retaliatory and awarding her $1.25 million for past and future damages.