Wednesday, Oct. 21, 1998 | 10:51 a.m.
A Clark County School District computer programmer says district administrators harassed her after she spent three weeks serving jury duty.
Evelyn Tinney spent one week in jury selection and two weeks hearing the capital murder case of Bryan Robinson, who was convicted and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Now she has filed a lawsuit against her supervisors, Sal Cali and Jorge Disuanco, and the school district. She alleges her bosses threatened to fire her because she served as a juror. The lawsuit also says Tinney was removed from assignments and that her bosses barred co-workers from speaking to her.
"It seems like a clear issue of abuse," said Tinney's attorney, Richard Segerblom, who has filed a number of lawsuits against the district. "It's a blatant thing they are doing."
School district lawyer Bill Hoffman said the district is investigating the charges.
"I suspect there is more to it than is contained in the lawsuit, but it wouldn't be fair to anyone to comment before we complete the investigation," Hoffman said.
Eighth Judicial District Court Judge Lee Gates wrote in an Oct. 13 letter to school officials reminding them that "it is unlawful for an employer to terminate or threaten to terminate an employee because of jury duty ... Mrs. Tinney performed her civic duty admirably and should not be punished."
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