TOLEDO — A second federal whistleblower-related lawsuit has been filed in the United States District Court for Northern District in Toledo against administrators at the Western Ohio Regional Treatment and Habilitation Center in Allen County.
Wapakoneta resident Amy Brewster, a former employee of the community-based correctional facility in Lima, alleges in her wrongful termination suit filed June 13 that she was unjustly fired from her position at the center after showing support for another employee who had filed whistleblowing actions against the facility’s leaders.
Brewster’s lawsuit alleges that WORTH Center Director Brent Burk and Deputy Director Vivian Wilson “engaged in wrongdoing, against the interests of the WORTH Center,” and conspired to take advantage of their positions of authority after Brewster supported Brad Dietrich Jr. in his whistle-blowing action against the center.
Other defendants in the case are listed as John/Jane Doe. The identity of the John and Jane Doe defendants are not yet known “but are believed to be employees of either the WORTH Center, members of the center’s board of directors or employees of Clemens Nelson & Associates Inc., according to Brewster’s suit.
Dietrich, who was fired from his position at the WORTH Center on Aug. 23, 2021, filed a lawsuit against the same defendants.
Dietrich, who is openly gay, claims he was “targeted and subject to explicit sexual profanity” due to his sexual orientation. He is seeking compensatory and punitive damages against all defendants for “appropriate back pay, front pay and reimbursement for lost wages” in an amount to be settled by a jury at trial.
Brewster, in her lawsuit, claims she was “singled out” and “treated differently” than other workers due to her support for Dietrich. The suit alleges that Burk, in his capacity of director at the facility, conspired with the other defendants to “unlawfully terminate” her employment on Sept. 23, 2021.
The lawsuit further alleges that Brewster attempted to report in a letter to the board of directors certain abuses of power and misuse of resources by Burk and Wilson and that her firing was a result of that letter.
Brewster is seeking compensatory and punitive damages that are “reasonable and commensurate with the pain and emotional distress caused by the defendants’ acts.”
