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| Fired Tex. officer wins suit |
| By San Antonio Express-News |
| Published: 11/12/2003 |
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A federal jury in Austin, Tex. has awarded $275,000 to a former officer at the Dominguez State Jail after determining the Texas Department of Criminal Justice discriminated against him when he was fired. The jury found that the race of Dennis K. McFadden, who is black, was a substantial or motivating factor that prompted officials to fire him. Jurors awarded him $75,000 in back pay and $200,000 in compensatory damages. Jail officials argued that McFadden, 45, had violated jail policy by not providing adequate and timely documentation supporting his return to duty from a work-related injury. They said it was his third work-related violation in a 12-month period, and the firing had nothing to do with race. McFadden said he feels vindicated by Thursday's ruling of the eight-member, all-Anglo jury. He said the latest allegation was a "trumped-up charge." Corrections department and prison officials could not be reached for comment Tuesday. McFadden was fired shortly after he tried to return to work Feb. 2, 2001, after he suffered a wrist injury defending a co-worker from an inmate at the prison in Southwest Bexar County several months earlier. Court records show the jail was not satisfied with a letter that cleared him to return to work. Instead, officials required him to provide more detailed documentation supporting his return to light duty. McFadden said he was told to get the documentation within eight hours, but he could not meet the request. In a letter dated Feb. 28, 2001, his physician, Dr. Paul D. Pace, said the jail demand was unreasonable, given that his office sees 150 to 200 patients daily. McFadden's lawyers also presented evidence of five other officers recommended for termination who accrued three policy violations in a 12-month period. Four of those officers were minorities, and they all were fired. The one who wasn't fired was an Anglo male, and he was allowed to transfer to another prison unit in Huntsville, records show. |
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