Opinion ID: 2782925
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Plaintiff’s Commission Revoked

Text: The trial of Bowling’s claims against the United States (all other defendants had settled) began on March 1, 2010. Plaintiff testified for Bowling on March 4 and March 9. Meanwhile Plaintiff, having been removed from investigations, was without an assignment as a reserve deputy. Before the trial, in early 2010, the reserves supervisor, Sergeant Thaxton, had asked Undersheriff Roland if Plaintiff could conduct training for the reserve deputies since he had no other reserve position. Roland declined the request, citing Plaintiff’s Giglio issue. On March 31, Thaxton followed up with an email to Roland notifying him that Plaintiff “would like to be involved with the program and would like to know when he can assist.” Id. at 1467. He received no response. 11 On April 8 the Bowling trial concluded. Five days later Plaintiff received a memorandum signed by Roland and Thaxton, with Sheriff Ash copied, stating in its entirety: Your Service as a Reserved Deputy is no longer needed at this time. Your tenure as a Reserve for the Wyandotte County Sheriff’s Office has been greatly appreciated. This is an Administrative action; please address all concerns or questions to the Undersheriff Larry Roland. Please return all agency issued items including your commission card to me the Reserve Unit Coordinator. Id., Vol. V at 1003. Thaxton testified that he had been advised by Roland that if Plaintiff questioned his decommissioning, Thaxton should cite “the Fair Standards Labor [sic] Act [FLSA] where you can’t be employed by a company and then do free labor for them.” Id. at 1013. When Thaxton asked Roland, “Where is that in there for my educational purposes,” Roland referred him to a major, who initially referred him back to Roland, who then said to just tell Plaintiff it was an “administrative decision.” Id. (internal quotation marks omitted). According to Ash and Roland, Plaintiff lost his commission because he refused to work in the short-staffed jail, as required for all reserve deputies at the time. There is no dispute that Plaintiff refused to work in the jail. But there is a dispute about when he was told that he would have to. Plaintiff states that it was in July or August 2010, months after his commission had been revoked. Defendants’ brief offers no date for the meeting, though Roland stated his belief that it occurred in 2009 and Ash testified that it occurred before Plaintiff received the April 2010 memorandum terminating his commission. 12