Appeals Court: Lexington must reinstate jail officer, pay more than $350,000 in back pay
A three-judge panel of the state Court of Appeals has upheld a Fayette judge’s ruling ordering the city of Lexington to reinstate and pay back wages to a jail employee who was fired in 2017 after he accepted a plea deal on three misdemeanor counts of unlawful transactions with a minor.
The Court of Appeals decision, released Friday, upheld Fayette Circuit Court Judge John Reynold’s November 2019 decision that ordered former Sgt. John Thomas Lowe’s reinstatement at the Fayette County Detention Center and awarded $334,721 in back pay and benefits to compensate him for three years of unpaid administrative leave from his job before his 2017 termination.
Scott Crosbie, a lawyer for Lowe, said the amount Lowe is now owed is much higher.
“We have not made additional calculations of additional back pay, benefits and statutory interest since the appeal was filed, but I suspect the balance is now around $425,000 owed,” Crosbie said. “Sgt. Lowe and the FOP are obviously pleased with today’s outcome.”
The city can appeal the decision to the state Supreme Court.
The city violated its collective bargaining agreement with Lowe and his union, the Fraternal Order of Police, because it never held the required disciplinary hearing during which he would have been allowed to present evidence and defend himself, Reynolds said in the order granting summary judgment to Lowe.
Lowe didn’t know he had been fired until a week later when his lawyer — in the jail on other business — learned of it by accident, Reynolds wrote.
In Friday’s ruling, the Court of Appeals also upheld Reynold’s ruling that the city could not order Lowe to be placed on administrative leave without pay while his criminal case was pending. The collective bargaining agreement did not have a provision in it that would allow for a jail employee to be placed on administrative leave without pay. The collective bargaining agreement has since been updated and now allows for administrative leave without pay.
Lexington police arrested Lowe in 2014 and charged him with two felony counts of first-degree sodomy and one felony count of first-degree sexual abuse. According to court records, a female relative accused Lowe of sexually molesting her several times from 2010 to 2012 when she was 7 and 8 years old. Lowe repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.
After the case continued in Fayette Circuit Court for several years, the charges were reduced to three misdemeanor counts of unlawful transaction with a minor. Lowe entered an “Alford plea,” which lets a defendant acknowledge that prosecutors have enough evidence to convict him without him admitting guilt. He was sentenced to time served, getting credit for his brief stay in jail.
Lowe’s criminal attorney said in 2019 the relative who had accused Lowe had a history of mental and other problems, and the relative had made up the allegations against Lowe.
This story was originally published December 4, 2020 at 4:12 PM.
