By William Moore
Daily Journal
TUPELO – Almost seven years after she was fired, a former corrections officer has been awarded unemployment benefits by Mississippi’s highest court.
Crystal Finnie was fired from her job at the Lee County Juvenile Detention Center in 2009 for refusing to wear the proper jail uniform. After converting to the Pentecostal denomination, Finnie wanted to wear a skirt instead of the uniform pants, to follow the beliefs of her faith.
When she filed for unemployment benefits, the Mississippi Department of Employment Security found in her favor. Lee County appealed the case and Circuit Court reversed the decision.
The state supreme court reversed that Thursday, saying “Finnie did not commit misconduct as our law defines it.”
Finnie wore the department issued pants and shirt for around four years, until she converted. She and her pastor met with Sheriff Jim Johnson in September 2008 about the issue but nothing was resolved.
Since the sheriff’s office employee manual says it will not discriminate on religious beliefs, Finnie started wearing skirts six months after meeting with Johnson. After about two weeks, she was confronted by two supervisors and told she was violating the uniform policy and she would be suspended without pay.
Finnie says she was told she could either wear pants or turn in her resignation. She used vacation days instead of taking a suspension. Several weeks later while still using her vacation days, she met with Johnson and was told she was being terminated for violating the dress code.
“Lee County argues that Finnie’s actions were a ‘deliberate violation’ of the dress code and therefore misconduct,” Supreme Court Associate Justice Ann Lamar wrote in the opinion. “We reject such an ipso facto reading, as we have before.
“We find that Finnie’s behavior here did not amount to misconduct. Perhaps most importantly, Finnie never wore a skirt to work after Johnson told her she could not.”
The justices noted that the employee manual expressly allows other department employees to wear skirts.
william.moore@journalinc.com