Prison nurse sues corrections department, alleging harassment and pregnancy discrimination

A Story County prison nurse is suing the Iowa Department of Corrections for alleged pregnancy discrimination and sexual harassment.

In a lawsuit filed in Polk County District Court, Kelli Lynn Weaver of Cambridge states that in December 2017, she was hired by the state to work as a registered nurse at the Newton Correctional Facility in Jasper County. Weaver claims that beginning in December 2018, she began experiencing problems with Larry Sims, a night-shift nurse at the Newton facility.

According to Weaver, Sims made many derogatory comments to and about her from December 2018 until his employment ended in late 2021 or early 2022.

Weaver alleges she repeatedly complained about Sims’ conduct to Sam Hill, then the nursing director for the Iowa Department of Corrections, and to her immediate supervisor.

She alleges that in June 2020, when she returned to work after maternity leave, she was immediately targeted by Sims and subjected to repeated instances of sexual harassment, pregnancy discrimination, demeaning comments and a sexually hostile work environment.

Weaver claimed Sims called her practice of pumping of breast milk “milking,” and told her to go “hook up her udders.” Weaver alleged that Sims spread rumors about her to other members of the staff at the Newton Correctional Facility and told other employees he intended to have her fired.

After she complained, her lawsuit claims, the DOC repeatedly denied her access to a private area to pump breast milk and so she and two other breast-feeding employees were required to pump breast milk together. After she lodged additional complaints with the department, she was allegedly offered the option to pump milk in the optometrist’s room, which had an open window so that any passerby could see in.

Last November, after a “volatile interaction” with Sims that ended with Sims telling her to “shut the f— up,” Weaver alleges, she was removed from her position through a temporary suspension due to Sims filing a complaint against her for a hostile work environment.

In the meantime, she claims, the DOC took no action on the complaints she had filed against Sims. Her lawsuit states that Sims was suspended or terminated due to unrelated incidents.

In her lawsuit against the DOC, Weaver claims she has been “subjected to a never-ending investigation based upon a complaint from her harasser,” and that the DOC has denied her the cost-of-living wage increase afforded other employees.

“The only difference between plaintiff and the other employees was that she complained for how she was discriminated against, harassed, and retaliated against,” the lawsuit alleges.

The lawsuit seeks unspecified compensatory damages and attorney’s fees.

The Department of Corrections has yet to filed a response to the lawsuit. A department spokesman could not be reached for comment Monday.

In addition to the DOC, defendants named in the lawsuit include Sims, Hill and DOC employees Mike Robinson and Paula Meade.