EAST ST. LOUIS - Former Centralia prison officer Garrett Rose of Salem claims corrections department leaders didn’t discipline officers who ignored the mask mandate but terminated him for disobeying on religious grounds.
His counsel Darrell Dunham of Carbondale sued the department at U.S. district court on Feb. 19, stating Rose is the only employee the department discharged for a mask violation.
Dunham claimed Rose believed wearing a mask would constitute bowing to a false idol.
He named former department director Rob Jeffreys, former Centralia warden Tom Austin, and employees Billie Bryan and Reginald Hammonds as defendants in their individual capacities.
“Defendants, each and every one of them, knew that numerous other employees, on a routine and systematic basis, were refusing to comply with the mask mandate,” he wrote.
“Defendants refused to discipline other employees for their conscious decisions to ignore the mask mandate,” he added.
Dunham claimed Rose started working at the Centralia prison in 2017.
He claimed Rose complied with the mandate for several months, but Scripture and conscience convinced him the mask violated his duty to obey God.
He added that Rose requested an outside assignment such as working in a guard tower, patrolling, or delivering mail.
“None of the defendants nor any other Department of Corrections employee offered a reason why he could not be accommodated,” he wrote.
Dunham claimed Rose reported without a mask from March to May 2022 and was denied entry.
He claimed Rose orally requested accommodation on every occasion.
He added that an outside assignment would not have posed a risk to safety of others.
Dunham claimed the department suspended Rose as a result of discipline reports from Hammonds.
He claimed Bryan held a grievance hearing and recommended termination.
Austin allegedly accepted the recommendation, and Jeffreys terminated Rose in June 2022.
Dunham sought compensation for lost wages and benefits, damages for emotional distress, and punitive damages no less than $200,000.
The court clerk assigned Magistrate Judge Gilbert Sison, who will preside unless a party declines consent to magistrate jurisdiction.
If that happens the clerk will assign a district judge.