Details of Fontenot suit against Bunkie police chief released

  The attorney for Bunkie police officer Myra Fontenot filed a sexual harassment/employment discrimination lawsuit against Police Chief Bobby Corner and the City of Bunkie in federal court in Shreveport on Aug. 5.

  Shreveport attorney Allison Jones addressed the Bunkie City Council at a special meeting on July 27 and gave the city until Aug. 1 to settle the complaints of her client. The city officials did not attempt to settle Fontenot’s case.

   Following are the details of that suit:

   Fontenot started working for the BPD just after Corner took office as police chief in July 2014. She took time off from BPD from September 2014 to February 2015 to work on an outside political campaign. When she returned to work, she was assigned the positions of shift supervisor, payroll officer, training coordinator and dispatch supervisor.

    Fontenot alleges that when she returned to work she faced sexual harassment in the form of  sexual advances, jokes, and comments. 

   She claims Corner made inappropriate comments, such as calling Fontenot by names with sexual innuendo; telling her she smelled good; telling her she looked “fine” in her pants; telling her that he loved her eyes and that she did not know what it did to him when she looked at him; and inappropriately touching her in private areas.

   In May 2015, Fontenot complained to other officers about Corner’s conduct, but was advised by a group of male officers “that if she refused any of the sexual advances of Chief Corner, the extra positions she was assigned would all be taken away by Chief Corner.”

   Fontenot continued her job duties despite the sexual harassment and in June 2015 was given a title of Investigator-In-Training. In July 2015 she was given the keys to all of the BPD offices. In August 2015, the council promised her a raise to $13 an hour.

    In July 2015, she states that she demanded that Corner stop his unwanted sexual advances. 

 

   In August 2015 there was a heated dispute when “his (Corner's) daughter asked Fontenot if she was going to be her third ‘mommy.’ Embarrassingly, Fontenot was later required to explain to Chief Corner’s daughter that nothing was going on between her dad and Fontenot,” the suit states.

   The lawsuit also says Fontenot witnessed and opposed inappropriate sexual conduct from Corner towards other female officers.

   In September 2015, Fontenot and dispatcher Wyneka Washington asked Corner in an open meeting to stop all inappropriate sexual conduct. Following the complaints, Corner refused to stop and mocked the complaints, implying both women were hyper-sensitive.

    In October 2015, the chief accused Fontenot of having sex with another male officer, which Fontenot said was untrue. She then decided to file a formal complaint with Bunkie Mayor Mike Robertson. This led to acts of retaliation, she alleges.

   Before the complaint, Fontenot had a work schedule that allowed her to attend college. After filing the complaint, her schedule was changed and she could no longer attend college and had to resign from college.

   The chief started scrutinizing her work and talking to previous employers about her work history, a year after she started working at BPD.

  In November 2015, Fontenot filed discrimination charges with the EEOC. Within days of  the EEOC complaint, Corner took her weapon and gave her a Taser, began following her at night during her shift, allowed other officers to harass her by radio while he was on duty at the Marksville Police Department by overriding calls that Fontenot made to officers on her shift while she was in her capacity of supervisor,  approached officer Roger Spann several times about Fontenot and spoke of her in a derogatory fashion, more closely scrutinized Fontenot’s job performance, and asked Spann to report all of Fontenot’s off-duty and on-duty conduct to him.

  On Nov. 9, Corner relieved Fontenot of her duties. Corner met with Spann and other officers at a Bunkie business away from the department. Corner allegedly questioned Spann about what he could do to make “this sexual harassment thing go away.” 

 

  This conduct frightened Fontenot because she did not know what he would do next, especially after hearing him say on more than one occasion he would “blow up a  (expletive)” and blame it on his Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

   Fontenot said after being relieved of her duties, she tried to contact Corner and Assistant Chief Ethan Keller. Her calls were never returned. 

  After meeting with Robertson, she went back to work. On her first day back, she was called in and written up for insubordination and failure to follow procedures. She was also told her job was in jeopardy. The retaliation continued and became worse.

  Fontenot was told to get her firearms qualifications with any certified firearms instructor in the state of Louisiana. Once she received her qualifications, Corner contacted the instructor and advised him not to send Fontenot's  scores to Baton Rouge. 

  After doing 20 hours of in-service, Corner again contacted POST and refused to send in Fontenot’s record.

  The lawsuit maintains that Fontenot continued to make complaints to the mayor and City Council, but received no relief to stop the sexual harassment.

  The city offered Fontenot a job in City Hall, but she said such a move would cause her to lose her state supplemental pay.

  On April 2, Corner had an officer tell Fontenot to bring in all of her police-issued equipment. On April 7, Corner said he would not accept her firearm. She continued to work at BPD

  On May 9, Fontenot amended her charge with EEOC to include retaliatory acts. The next day, Fontenot was sent home by Corner with no explanation. The following day, Fontenot contacted Robertson, who called Scott Thomas, attorney for the Louisiana Municipal Association. 

   Thomas told Robertson to tell Fontenot to return to work and that she would be paid for the hours she missed if the chief sent her home again.

   Fontenot went back to work on June 8. Corner told her she had been terminated. Corner told Fontenot the mayor and council would send an explanatory letter on why she was terminated. None was ever received.

   She notes that she has never received any paperwork concerning her termination nor COBRA paperwork that would allow her to continue paying to receive health insurance benefits until she finds a new job.”