MEDFORD, Wis. (WSAU-WAOW) — A now former Taylor County Chief Veterans Service Officer is pursuing legal action following allegations of harassment from members of the veterans service board.
Shellie Shaw became the first female veterans service officer in Taylor County in April 2021. Her job included helping veterans with benefits, claims and other needs. Shaw has an extensive military background and several veterans tell News 9 she went above and beyond in her role.
“She is just a wonderful lady,” said veteran Bill Vach. “She has done so much to help the veterans.”
Shaw resigned on August 19, 2022 citing harassment and an unsafe environment in her resignation letter. Now, her attorney is pursuing discrimination and retaliation claims on Shaw’s behalf through the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
“Mrs. Shaw is herself a veteran and she lives with PTSD. She had requested accommodations and instead of interacting with her in good faith to see how they could accommodate her PTSD, the county put her on administrative leave,” said Lili Behm, Shaw’s attorney. “She had no option to decline the leave of absence.
Those accommodations, per the EEOC filing, included office practices such as keeping the door closed, asking people to knock to enter, having the door locked, along with setting side days for appointments and at times being able to cancel them.
“And that lead to some pretty frequent hostility and harassment,” said Behm. “County personnel would take issue with the fact that the door was closed and come down to the office, sometimes even when she was with veterans and sort of open the door to her office, interrupt these meetings and badger her.”
In a police report filed in June by Shaw, she expressed a series of concerns stating she felt she’s ‘still’ being harassed by members of the veterans service committee including Chairperson Lester Lewis.
Veterans called county staff relationships a ‘good old boys club’ as Shellie was the first female to hold that position in the county.
“They finally have a female in office, I viewed it as discrimination because they can’t necessarily control her, she knows what she’s allowed to do, and they’re trying to block her from doing that because it’s not their way,” said veteran Adam Berma.
In June several petitions began circulating requesting the removal of committee supervisor Lester Lewis from the veterans subcommittee and county board.
However, they were ultimately rejected due to what they say are technicalities.
And now veterans say they’re concerned about what the future of the veteran’s service office will look like.
“We have a big loss,” said Vach.
Shaw did complain she had heard from others that there had been death threats against her, but News 9 reached out to the Taylor County Sheriff and he tells us he looked into them but didn’t find any credibility.
News 9 has also reached out to all of the board members. Lester Lewis replied saying “there is a legal matter pending and I am cooperating with that process.”
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