Westmoreland commissioners settle juvenile detention center discrimination lawsuit
Aug. 17—Westmoreland County will pay $90,000 to the deputy director of the county's shuttered juvenile detention center to end a federal discrimination lawsuit.
Commissioners Sean Kertes and Doug Chew voted to authorize the settlement with Nicole Kamer, who claimed she was passed over for the top job at the Hempfield facility because she is a woman.
Kamer of East Vandergrift was initially appointed as interim director of the Regional Youth Services Center in 2020 following the resignation of the facility's top administrator. Commissioners removed Kamer's interim title after six months but passed her over last year when commissioners rehired former director Rich Gordon to run the facility.
In her lawsuit, Kamer claimed the commissioners' decision to demote her and rehire Gordon, who previously served as the detention center's director from 2013 to 2015, was in part based on her gender. Kamer also suggested gender was a factor in her being paid about $25,000 less than Gordon.
According to payroll records, Kamer, who was initially hired by the county in 2016 and continues to work as the detention center's deputy director, earns an annual salary of $71,283. Gordon is being paid more $98,010 this year.
Kamer did not respond to a request for comment Thursday.
Kertes and Chew declined to discuss the settlement.
Commissioner Ted Kopas, who was not in office during Kamer's promotion and demotion, voted against the settlement.
"I don't agree with the circumstances surrounding it," Kopas said.
The settlement comes as the juvenile detention center remains closed. Three separate state investigations by the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services this summer found violations related to staffing shortages at the 16-bed facility in Hempfield.
State inspectors said staffing issues this spring contributed to injuries suffered by two juvenile offenders and another physical confrontation with employees that investigators said nearly became a riot. A third probe identified allegations that an employee allowed a juvenile offender access to a vape pen.
The detention center has been closed since early June. Gordon said this month that just four staffers remained on the payroll as county officials looked to hire enough employees to eventually reopen the facility. A separate shelter program for troubled youth, which operates in the same building, remains open.
Rich Cholodofsky is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Rich by email at rcholodofsky@triblive.com or via Twitter .
