UW-La Crosse employee seeks $250,000 after being fired for offensive, racist comments

A former UW-La Crosse police dispatcher is seeking a settlement after being fired for telling a student employee that “all immigrants deserved to go back to where they were from.”

Kim Dearman was training an Asian student employee on Feb. 1 when she went on for five minutes about how immigrants don’t belong in the U.S., according to the student’s complaint. She then turned to the student and said “no offense,” contending that she was not racist.

Following a university employee investigation, Dearman was fired based on guidelines that do not allow for threatening or abusive language and conduct unbecoming of a university employee.

During the investigation Dearman reportedly said, "It was nothing," and "She better get used to it because it could happen to her for the rest of her life.”

Chancellor Joe Gow said that it is not OK for an employee to intimidate a subordinate.

"Most places to have policies you cannot insult people, particularly a student employee at a university in the workplace,” Gow said to WISC-TV.

Gow added that the decision was a culmination of previous disciplinary action and Dearman was already under a performance improvement plan. He said if this had been an isolated issue the employee would not likely have been fired.

However, Dearman said she was not given due process before her termination, and following backlash UW-La Crosse offered her job back.

But for Dearman this was not enough. Her lawyer, Lee Fehr, asked for $250,000 in settlement and is asking the UW System Board of Regents to investigate if Dearman actually violated university guidelines and if Gow violated the same guidelines himself.

The situation began with a campuswide email from Gow about President Donald Trump’s travel ban placed on six majority-Muslim countries saying he was shocked and saddened.

“Like so many of you, the UW leadership team and I are shocked and saddened by President Donald Trump’s order prohibiting refugees and people from certain predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States. Here at UWL we do not discriminate based on a person’s religion or country of origin, and it is very troubling to see the leader of our country doing exactly that.”

Dearman said her remarks were made as comments on the chancellor’s email. She has appeared on national news outlets like Fox News and talk radio to call for an investigation of free speech on campus and chastise Gow for his remarks.

"Free speech and due process are the foundation of our country. End of story,” Fehr said according to WISC-TV. “It wasn't done right; it was done wrong, and the university should stand up to the plate and correct a situation they've created."

Gow later rescinded the paragraph of the email. And while university guidelines are applicable to all employees equally, Gow says his comments were different from Dearman’s.

"I would say that my work, that's ideas. What she said is an insult,” Gow said to WISC-TV. “It's something that's said to make somebody feel bad and it worked in this case."

While no litigation is currently underway Gow and the university have stated they will not be paying the settlement.

The student who filed the complaint quit following the incident and Dearman is reportedly considering her employment options.