Commission Awards $75K to Corrections Officer for Emotional Distress in Asthma Case
The Middlesex County Sheriff's Office is appealing the decision.
The Middlesex Sheriff's Office has appealed a decision ordering the office to pay $75,000 in emotional distress damages and back pay to a former corrections officer who said she was discriminated against because of her asthma, according to the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination. The decision was issued Aug. 20 by a hearing officer, and appealing the decision sends it to the entire three-person commission for review. According to the complaint against the sheriff's office, Donnalyn Sullivan, who worked as a corrections officer since 1990, had asthma that acted up badly when she was outside in cold weather for prolonged periods of time. For most of her career, Sullivan performed duties that kept her mostly indoors—she was a …
