The town of Bargersville won a First Amendment lawsuit initially filed in 2018 by a former employee of the clerk-treasurer’s office.
Beth Sweet, a customer-service representative for the town for nearly 20 years, sued the town and Clerk-Treasurer Steve Longstreet, saying he fired her in retaliation for her criticism of him, according to court documents.
Sweet noticed in August 2017 that a resident had fallen behind on his utility payments, so she disconnected his service. Longstreet reconnected his utilities, and said the decision was consistent with his general policy of reducing the number of disconnections, which he viewed as an unnecessary waste of resources, court documents show.
Sweet confronted Longstreet about reconnecting the utility service of the delinquent customer, a wealthy businessman, arguing that customers should be treated uniformly, though Longstreet said he has no recollection of that discussion. Shortly after, Sweet was removed from handling disconnections, according to court documents.
Sweet said the five-month gap between her criticism and termination was suspicious timing. But the town and Longstreet argued she had a history of problems including an error that cost the town about $1,000, court documents show.
For years, Sweet was responsible for collecting utility bills and setting up payment plans for customers. In 2015, three years after Longstreet was elected clerk-treasurer, the office outsourced collections to a private firm to cut costs. Sweet took on a more general customer-service role communicating with customers and managing disconnections. Sweet had received positive performance reviews until that time. In 2015-16, her performance declined, according to court documents.
Longstreet fired Sweet in January 2018. She said Longstreet told her the decision to let her go was related to the office’s transition to greater use of automation, but another employee told her it was due to the fee-collection error, court documents show.
Tanya Walton Pratt, a judge for the United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, sided with the town and Longstreet, saying there wasn’t enough evidence to support Sweet’s claim that she was fired in retaliation, according to court documents.
Sweet appealed the ruling.
The United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit upheld the judge’s decision on Wednesday.
