Texas Jail Employees File COVID-19 Class Action Lawsuit

September 22, 2020 — A class action lawsuit has been filed on behalf of employees at a Dallas jail where an outbreak of COVID-19 (coronavirus) put officers at “extreme risk.”

The lawsuit was filed by a Detention Service Officer who accuses the Dallas County sheriff of creating conditions in the jail that led to an outbreak of COVID-19 and put officers at risk of infection.

Dallas County Sheriff Marian Brown is accused of failing to enforce social distancing in the jail, failing to give jail employees Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), and failing to provide COVID-19 tests.

The lawsuit also claims that a lack of training, inadequate cleaning, and poor hygienic practices also caused COVID-19 to spread at the jail.

The class action is seeking to represent as many as 900 officers who work with around 7,000 inmates at the Suzanne Lee Kays Detention Facility of the Lew Sterrett Justice Center in Dallas, Texas.

According to the complaint:

The Sheriff allows conditions to exist at the Jail that promote the spread of COVID-19, are a public health nuisance, are unsafe, and excessively endanger the health and lives of the Detention Service Officers, their families and their communities.”