The University of Central Missouri will have to pay over a million dollars following a guilty verdict in a lawsuit brought forward by an employee claiming retaliation, sex discrimination and a hostile work environment — $279,436 more than the damages the plaintiff demanded pretrial.
A jury sided with plaintiff Nicole Nickens on Oct. 25 in her lawsuit against the school on her retaliation claim; on Nickens’ sex discrimination and hostile work environment claims, the jury sided with the defendant. UCM will have to pay $1.12 million, $1 million of which is for punitive damages and $120,000 for noneconomic damages.
In her suit, Nickens claimed she was unfairly retaliated against by UCM College of Education Dean Robert E. Lee. Nickens was the college’s associate dean. Allegedly, Lee retaliated against Nickens due to her complaints. According to court documents, this retaliation included, among several things, passing over Nickens for chair positions, assigning her to an inferior office, excluding her from transitions with faculty members and publicly undermining her.
Lead attorney for the plaintiff was Julianne Germinder of TGH Litigation in Columbia, along with Brooke Davids, as well as Roger Brown of Roger Brown & Associates in Jefferson City. The lead attorney for the defense was Kyle Russell, along with AJ James, of Husch Blackwell in Kansas City.
Before the case went to trial, the plaintiff made a pretrial demand for $840,564. The defendant’s pretrial offer was $200,000, with the condition that Nickens resign from her position as a tenured professor. The plaintiff refused that offer.
During trial, tried before Judge Stacey Let in Cass County Circuit Court, several female UCM employees testified in favor of Nickens, and the interim associate vice provost allegedly admitted that there is a sex discrimination problem at UCM. General Counsel Lindsay Chapman sat as the university representative throughout the trial.
“I think that … the jury acknowledged and held the university accountable for actions that Dean Lee took against (Nickens) and the destructive nature of the retaliation to her career,” Germinder said. “Her administrative career was really stunted … (The actions of Dean Lee) took her off of a lot of statewide and national initiatives in education.”
The plaintiff won based on retaliation claims as outlined by the Missouri Human Rights Act. Despite the victory, Germinder said it was “really just sad” for future educators that would have benefited from Nickens’ administrative work and professional membership roles.
Nickens is still working at the university as a professor. Dean Lee is no longer employed with UCM. A hearing in the case is set for January for attorney fees and any other post-trial motions, according to Germinder.
“I think at the end of the day … UCM supposedly had a process … (and) the jury saw through that … Saying you’re doing something is not enough. You have to actually protect your employees,” Germinder said. “That did not happen in this case.”
Counsel for the defense declined to comment and referred to UCM’s media relations department for further comment.
“The University appreciates the jury’s unanimous findings of no sex discrimination and no sexual harassment, and we respectfully disagree with other aspects of the jury’s verdict and believe it is inconsistent with Missouri law,” J. Alex Greenwood, UCM communications and media relations director, stated in an email. “We look forward to asserting our claims in the next steps of this process.”
