Former Mecklenburg jail nurse alleges sexual harassment by officers, files lawsuit

When a Mecklenburg County Detention Center nurse reported the captain who was harassing her, he left — but his lingering grasp on colleagues mixed with the jail’s flawed procedures left her targeted long after his departure, a lawsuit alleges.

The former nurse has accused Wellpath, the jail’s outgoing health care provider, of permitting a workplace laden with sexual harassment and “permeated with discriminatory behavior.” The court documents, filed May 8 in Mecklenburg Superior Court, also allege harassment by the jail’s officers, though the lawsuit only names Wellpath as a defendant.

Jamie Davis, the nurse who filed the lawsuit, and her lawyer could be not reached for comment.

Wellpath, formerly known as Correct Care Solutions, has been working in Charlotte’s jail since 2008.

The company, which has said it’s been “grappling with the economic realities, cost increases, and nationwide nursing shortages resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic,” has terminated its $10.66 million contract with the jail. Kansas-based VitalCore Health Strategies will care for people starting Saturday, a change that was announced in early April.

While the nurse was employed by Wellpath from 2020 to 2022, Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s Office Capt. Donald Glass repeatedly commented on her body, according to the lawsuit. Several times, he referred to his genitals when speaking to her, and once in April 2021 he exposed himself to her inside the clinic at Mecklenburg County’s Juvenile Detention Center, Davis alleges in the lawsuit.

She quickly reported him, and Glass resigned following an interview with internal affairs, according to court documents.

Officers blamed her for Glass’s departure and began to “put [her] safety in jeopardy,” according to the lawsuit.

Several officers are accused in the lawsuit of going against proper protocol by leaving her alone with a patient with known psychiatric issues and failing to intervene when patients would taunt her, among other violations.

According to the lawsuit’s allegations:

Officer Miles Fairley reportedly taught inmates a “disrespectful song” about the nurse and told them to sing it to her after Glass resigned. He also told inmates he would “let them out of their cells and give them a honeybun if they would hug [the nurse],” and discussed her body with them.

Neither Fairley nor Glass could be reached for comment on the allegations in the lawsuit. A representative for Wellpath did not return emails requesting comment.

The nurse reported Fairley’s behavior and completed an incident report around the same time she reported another nurse she alleged was creating a hostile work environment.

Shortly after, she enlisted the help of an attorney, who on June 8, 2022, sent a letter to Wellpath and Mecklenburg County Sheriff Garry McFadden demanding safer working conditions. Her bosses moved her from the juvenile jail to the adult jail, which was “an unsafe working environment where it was not uncommon for inmates to throw urine and feces,” according to the lawsuit.

The nurse interpreted the move as retaliation.

When the nurse showed up to work in August 2022, after about two months off to recover from a medical procedure, Fairley was scheduled to work with her. She emailed her supervisor that she would not work alongside Fairley, who “sexually harassed [her] and told her he would not assist her if she was in an unsafe situation.”

The next day, a Wellpath human resources manager told her she had “voluntarily resigned,” according to the lawsuit. In November 2022, Fairley was terminated, either by being fired or resigning, said Bradley Smith, MCSO’s public information officer.

According to a sheriff’s office policy on sexual harassment, the office “Absolutely Will Not Tolerate sexual harassment or other prohibited harassment by any employee regardless of rank or position in this organization.”

But, in Davis’ eyes, she was terminated because she “refused to submit to sexual harassment and retaliation and because she requested not to work in an unsafe environment.”

She is asking for at least $25,000 in monetary damages for lost wages, embarrassment, humiliation and emotional and mental distress. She is also requesting punitive damages to be awarded by a jury should it find Wellpath was recklessly indifferent to her rights.