United Group Insurance

Ex-prison guard reaches $2.3M deal to settle with state

News

March 11th, 2019 by Ric Hanson

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A former Iowa prison guard has reached a deal for $2.3 million as a settlement for discrimination and retaliation she says she suffered after filing a sexual harassment case against the state. The state paid Kristine Sink $1.65 million last month to settle the sexual harassment case, and the Iowa attorney general is recommending settling the second retaliation case. The State Appeal Board will decide Monday whether to approve the settlement.

Sink’s problems began when in 2011 when she says her supervisors at the Iowa State Penitentiary in Fort Madison allowed inmates and co-workers to harass her. She sued the state in 2012 and that case was on appeal when the state settled last month. The second lawsuit filed in 2015 alleges retaliation after she returned to work. Sink’s attorney, Des Moines civil rights lawyer Paige Fiedler, was paid $1 million out of the first settlement and will get $1.1 million from the second if it’s approved by the board.