Woman who waged battle over donated sick leave has died
Guerini fought engineer’s office over donated sick time
Staff report
NILES
Nancy C. Guerini, 56, who waged a battle with the Trumbull County Engineer’s Office seeking to be able to use donated sick time while she battled cancer, has died.
Her obituary said she died Thursday in Autumn Hills Care Center after a long battle with cancer. Her funeral was Sunday.
Guerini was 51 in August 2012 when she took her battle with Engineer Randy Smith public, saying other Trumbull County employees had expressed a desire to donate sick time to her, but Smith refused to allow it – saying the department had never allowed donated sick leave time and he opposed it.
Guerini started working at the engineer’s office in January 2010 and was diagnosed with breast cancer in November 2011. She had used up her sick and vacation time by December 2011, then used 12 weeks of unpaid time off guaranteed through the federal Family and Medical Leave Act.
She later returned to her nonunion job as assistant personnel director but took time off Fridays for chemotherapy, she said. She didn’t communicate with the county engineer’s office for a time, and her FMLA time ran out in July 2012.
Guerini’s situation caused the county commissioners to seek an opinion from the Ohio Attorney General’s Office, which said the commissioners had the authority to establish a sick-leave policy that applies to other elected officials, including the county engineer.
That policy is in place now at the county engineer’s office, Herb Laukhart Jr., personnel director for the county engineer’s office, said Monday. No one has requested use of donated sick time since her case arose, Laukhart said.
Guerini sued the county commissioners in 2015, arguing that her termination from the county engineer’s office in May 2013 violated federal laws, such as the Americans With Disabilities Act, Civil Rights Act relating to sexual discrimination, Federal Age Discrimination in Employement Act, Family and Medical Leave Act and others.
She settled out of court in September 2015. Laukhart said the settlement was more related to her separation from the county engineer’s office than the donated sick leave.