COLDWATER, MI (WTVB) – A former longtime employee of the Branch County Prosecutors Office has filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against her former boss.
Evon Staley filed the complaint October 27, 2017 against Branch County Prosecutor Ralph Kimble. Branch County was also listed as a defendant because Staley claims the county “failed to take timely and appropriate action based on Prosecutor Kimble’s sexual harassment of their female employees.”
She accused Kimble violating the Michigan Elliot Larsen Civil Rights Act which prohibits discriminatory treatment of employees on the basis of sex.
Battle Creek attorney Robert Sharkey filed the lawsuit on behalf of Staley. It states acts were also directed by Kimble towards “other women co-employed by Defendant County of Branch in the Prosecutors Office, 3-A District Court, 15th Judicial Circuit Court, Branch County Probate Court and other County agencies and departments”.
The defendants are also accused of intentionally inflicting emotional distress by creating “an intimidating, hostile and offensive work environment”.
Staley is seeking at least $25,000 in damages as well as a jury trial and has requested that she be reinstated as a county employee
Staley was among four persons who were recently charged related to an alleged marijuana grow operation on her property.
She lost her job in the prosecutors office after the Southwest Michigan Enforcement Team conducted a bust about a year ago at the home on Grass Lake Road.
All four defendants are scheduled to appear for probable cause hearings Thursday in front of Judge Tiffany Ankley in Kalamazoo.
Kalamazoo County Assistant Prosecutor Cory Johnson is serving as the Special Prosecutor.
