Rebecca P. Tharpe vs. the Florida Highway Patrol
There is an interesting story on Rebecca P. Tharpe. She was the highest ranking female in the history of the Florida Highway Patrol. Tharpe says she was discriminated against and terminated. The FHP says otherwise. Tharpe has filed a suit against the FHP. The suit alleges a "culture of discrimination."
I'm thinking that Tharpe may have a good case. The National Employment Lawyers awarded her their courage at work award. Tharpe also settled a discrimination suit against the FHP in 2005. The same year she was fired.
Tharpe is a high profile woman in Florida. She became a finalist for the Florida Women's Hall of Fame. Tharpe served 25 years in the FHP. Anyone who follows Florida police corruption knows that veteran officers aren't easy to be rid of. It seems odd someone that the FHP has used for positive PR would be fired. There isn't much information online right now. But this is a story worth following. A court case could shed light on how female officers are treated.
posted by Michael Hussey @ 11:24 PM
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Posted on Tue, Dec. 18, 2007
Deal for ex-trooper: $525,000
BY GARY FINEOUT
The state of Florida has quietly agreed to pay $525,000 to end a lawsuit by a fired Florida Highway Patrol troop commander who contended she was discriminated against and harassed because she is a woman.
Former Maj. Rebecca Tharpe, a 26-year-veteran of the law-enforcement agency, was fired more than a year ago by FHP's director. But the man who fired her, Col. Chris Knight, was forced to resign in September after investigators concluded he had falsified a document used to justify Tharpe's firing.
At the time of her dismissal in June 2006, Tharpe oversaw highway troopers in 10 counties in Southwest Florida and was the highest-ranking woman in the FHP. She filed a federal lawsuit in January alleging sex discrimination and retaliation because of an earlier discrimination lawsuit she had filed against the state. That lawsuit had been settled for $45,000 in 2005.
Ann Nucatola, a spokeswoman for the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, said the agency could not discuss the case at this time, saying the ''settlement has not been finalized.'' Phone calls to Tharpe and her attorneys were not returned.
But federal court records show the suit was dismissed in November. Florida's Division of Risk Management officially notified the Legislature about the settlement last month as well, since it exceeded $250,000.
The Nov. 19 letter states that the department concluded the settlement ''was in the best interest of the state.'' Because Tharpe had filed a federal civil rights lawsuit, Florida's sovereign-immunity cap, which limits the state's liability, did not apply.
In September, Col. Knight was asked to resign following a six-month probe into how he treated employees. That investigation concluded that Knight backdated a memo to help bolster the reasons for firing Tharpe.
The memo dated Dec. 2, 2003, said Knight talked to a fellow FHP employee who said he wanted to be transferred because he no longer wanted to work with Tharpe. Investigators said the document was used in a response to a federal employment discrimination complaint filed by Tharpe and that Knight never told agency officials he had written it in September 2006 and not December 2003.
Knight told The Miami Herald in September that he wrote the memo because he couldn't the find the original.
Back in 2006, Knight wrote another memo that blasted Tharpe's performance as a troop commander, citing years of ''weak leadership'' and ''insubordination,'' according to The Bradenton Herald.
The six-page memo accused Tharpe of shifting blame when questioned about a trooper, Tiffany Ferrell, who was allowed to continue patrolling after being involved in six accidents. The memo said that Tharpe publicly embarrassed five troopers who failed to qualify with their firearms by relieving them of their guns in front of their peers. Knight also wrote in the same memo that Tharpe tinted the windows of her patrol car, a violation of policy.
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© 2007 Miami Herald Media Company. All Rights Reserved.
http://www.miamiherald.com
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