Deputy claims male coworker and wife, her boss, sexually harassed her

Wayne County and the sheriff's department are facing a gender discrimination and sexual harassment lawsuit after a deputy says she was sexually harassed by a male colleague and his wife -- who happens to be her boss.

"Like many women she tried to ignore it and hoped that it would go away but it did not," said her attorney, Scott Batey.

Angelina Taylor, a deputy at the Wayne County Sherif's Department, says her co-worker not only sexually harassed her but attempted to have a sexual relationship with her. In fact, according to the documents, Taylor would agree to meet with her co-worker at various locations, but would not show up, hoping "her no-show" would send a message that she was not interested.

"He became more and more aggressive, and more and more vocal at work, and just so happen his wife was my client's immediate supervisor," Batey said.

According to the lawsuit, Taylor's co-worker was so vocal in his pursuits that he would often make advances toward Taylor for all the jail to see including his wife, Taylor's supervisor.

"When his wife got wind of it, she started retaliating against my client," Batey said. "Started more closely scrutinizing her work, trying to nitpick what she was doing."

That's when Taylor questioned her supervisor about her harsh treatment. She said her boss accused her of having an affair with her husband. Taylor denied that.

Batey says although his client complained about the harassment to this supervisor, she did not fulfill her work obligations to stop her husband from harassing Taylor. Batey says that's when his client was forced to contact her union to act on her behalf.

"A couple of weeks ago they finally transferred him out of the department," Batey said.

Fox 2 reached out to county officials and the sheriff's department said due to the ongoing investigation, the Wayne County Sheriff's Office cannot comment on case.

But Batey says the supervisor continues to harass his client, so a lawsuit was filed seeking monetary relief and calling for the harassment to end. 

"My client just wants to do her job and be free from a hostile work environment," he said.