Allegheny County will pay a former jail guard $1.5 million to settle a lawsuit alleging he was fired for reporting racist comments by a supervisor.
Jeffrey Kengerski was fired in November 2015 after reporting that a superior officer called Kengerski’s biracial relative “a monkey.”
He sued the county in federal court, and, in 2022, the case went to trial.
The county claimed Kengerski was terminated for mishandling a sexual harassment complaint, including that he told two subordinates to lie on their reports during the investigation.
However, Kengerski said he was fired as retaliation for reporting the behavior of Maj.Robyn McCall.
Kengerski said McCall asked if his grandniece was Black and then said Kengerski “will be that guy in the store with a little monkey on his hip like (another employee with a biracial child),” according to a court summary of the case.
Kengerski asked McCall not to speak that way and left the room. Later, he received several text messages — most of them memes with offensive racial stereotypes in them.
He reported McCall’s comments to then-Warden Orlando Harper, and McCall was placed on administrative leave in May 2015. She retired a few months later.
After Kengerski’s report, he said he was harassed by other employees until his termination.
Following a five-day trial, the jury awarded Kengerski $400,000 in compensatory damages, $230,528 in back pay and $300,000 in front pay.
In addition, the county was hit with attorney fees, bringing the total to more than $1.2 million.
After the verdict, the county appealed to the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, claiming there was insufficient evidence for the jury to side in Kengerski’s favor.
However, the appellate court noted in its five-page opinion that the county failed to preserve that issue for appeal.
It dismissed the county’s other claims, noting that it failed to meet the legal hurdles to disturb the verdict.
The case settled last week for $1.5 million, which includes $930,000 in damages set by the jury, as well as interest and attorneys’ fees.
“This has been a long, stressful, journey,” Kengerski said in a statement. “I could not be happier with the outcome.”
His attorney, Margaret S. Coleman, hopes the settlement will send a message.
“Employees have legal rights, including the right not to be fired for reporting racial harassment.”
Kengerski currently serves as the major of the Butler County Prison.
