BENTONVILLE — A hearing on a grievance filed by a Benton County jailer has been reset for Monday because of a scheduling conflict.
Tiffany DeVore, an employee at the Benton County jail, said in documents filed with the county earlier this month that she was demoted for exercising her right to free speech and that she was a victim of gender discrimination. A hearing had been set for Wednesday.
DeVore said she was a disciplinary sergeant at the jail until she was demoted May 13. She asks to be reinstated, seeks payment for lost wages and “compensation for all other damages and any related costs and expenses.”
Sheriff Meyer Gilbert said he couldn’t comment on the allegations in DeVore’s grievance until the hearing. Gilbert said the position of disciplinary sergeant was eliminated as part of a recent reorganization of the sheriff’s office.
The disciplinary sergeant was replaced by a jail investigator position that was filled by Sgt. Micheal Lira, who had been in the criminal investigation division of the sheriff’s office, Gilbert said.
Gilbert was appointed by the Quorum Court in April to serve out the remainder of former Sheriff Kelley Cradduck’s term after Cradduck agreed to resign while facing felony and misdemeanor tampering charges. He entered a no-contest plea to the misdemeanor charge, and the felony charge was dropped.
DeVore claims she was demoted because she made comments in support of sheriff candidates Paul Pillaro and Glenn Latham. Pillaro ran for sheriff in the Republican Party primary in March. Latham is running for sheriff as an independent candidate in the November general election.
DeVore said she also made comments critical of Shawn Holloway, who won the Republican Party’s nomination for sheriff, defeating Cradduck, Pillaro and Timothy Filbeck. Gilbert has named Holloway chief deputy for the sheriff’s office.
The grievance will be considered at 6 p.m. Monday by the county’s Grievance Council. The council’s findings and recommendations are advisory and not binding for any elected official.