Wrongful-termination lawsuit dismissed

Sergeant said she and 18 other employees were threatened after they backed sheriff candidate.

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A federal judge dismissed a wrongful-termination lawsuit Monday at the request of Weber County and a sheriff's sergeant who alleged she and other employees had experienced threats or retaliation for supporting one Republican candidate for sheriff over another in the 2010 election.

U.S. District Judge David Nuffer signed an order after the parties indicated they had "fully settled and compromised" the allegations raised by Teresa Perkins in a lawsuit initially filed in 2nd District Court and later transferred to federal court.

Perkins alleged she and 18 other sheriff's employees had been threatened, intimidated and transferred to less desirable assignments after they supported candidate Brett Haycock.

Perkins said a month after voicing her support for Haycock, she received an annual employee evaluation that said she "exhibited a lack of tact or consideration for others." Her supervisor at the time was Matthew Bell, who then chaired the county's Republican Party and was a county-commission candidate. She was later demoted from her position as supervisor of the motors department and then transferred to the Weber County Jail, where she still works.

Bell won his seat, as did Terry Thompson, Haycock's opponent at the Republican county convention.

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