A longtime City of Sunrise employee says that her bosses harassed her for following labor laws -- even going so far as to reprimand her for using the bathroom during work hours.
Cynthia Bagnall, a secretary for Sunrise since 1988, says that her bosses started to mistreat her when she participated in a Department of Labor investigation, according to a lawsuit recently filed in Federal Court.
Here's what Bagnall says happened: in 2008, Forrest
Bagnall, Cynthia's husband and city engineer, filed a complaint with the Department of Labor. He says
that he was unfairly reprimanded for taking military leave.
Cynthia
Bagnall says that she complied with Department of Labor staffers while they investigated her husband's claim, in June, July, and August 2008.
On July 31 of that same year, Cynthia Bagnall claims, she was assigned less desirable work hours.
When Forrest Bagnall
then decided in 2009 to go forward with his complaint against Sunrise, and listed his
wife as a witness, "the City notified Mrs. Bagnall that her work and
office location and even her working hours would change -- all over Mrs.
Bagnall's verbal and written objections."
Cynthia Bagnall says
that City higher ups even went so far as to stuff her in a tiny office
where she could barely work, in addition to giving her later hours and
unclear duties.
The kicker? "Mrs Bagnall then began to be
reprimanded for innocuous fabricated 'infractions' at work for which
there exist no published policy guidance...includ(ing) being reprimanded
for her use of the ladies restroom during working hours."
The
Bagnalls have demanded a jury trial, in hopes of improving Cynthia Bagnall's
working conditions.
The City of Sunrise has not returned calls for comment.
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