Court: Dayton officer can't be sued for discrimination

COLUMBUS (AP) — The Ohio Supreme Court has ruled that a Dayton police officer can’t be sued individually as part of a sex discrimination case.

At issue in the court’s divided ruling were complaints of age- and sex-discrimination by a female police officer against the department and her supervisor.

The court’s 4-3 decision today said the portion of Ohio law governing employment discrimination places liability on a government entity but not its individual employees.

Justice Judith French, writing for the majority, says the court’s decision relates only to law dealing with discrimination by a government entity and says individual employees can still be sued under different circumstances.

Justice Paul Pfeiffer in a dissent said the supervisor was liable because he was acting in the department’s interest.