{"id":4093,"date":"2025-12-27T19:49:04","date_gmt":"2025-12-27T19:49:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/2025\/12\/27\/washtenaw-county-sheriff-sues-county-for-taking-control-of-hr-positions\/"},"modified":"2025-12-27T19:49:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-27T19:49:08","slug":"washtenaw-county-sheriff-sues-county-for-taking-control-of-hr-positions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/2025\/12\/27\/washtenaw-county-sheriff-sues-county-for-taking-control-of-hr-positions\/","title":{"rendered":"Washtenaw County Sheriff sues county for taking control of HR positions"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Washtenaw County Sheriff Alyshia Dyer\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washtenaw.org\/1140\/Your-Sheriffs-Office\">office<\/a> filed a <a href=\"https:\/\/content.civicplus.com\/api\/assets\/06de4056-e3bc-4447-97eb-06bb83970d48\">lawsuit<\/a> Tuesday against the county, Washtenaw County Administrator Gregory Dill and the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washtenaw.org\/202\/Board-of-Commissioners\">Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners<\/a> after the passage of <a href=\"https:\/\/content.civicplus.com\/api\/assets\/42399556-c43f-4c2d-baca-d62cffac616e?cache=1800\">Resolution 25-249<\/a> on Dec. 3, which put four human resource positions at the Sheriff\u2019s Office under the county\u2019s control. The Board of Commissioners approved the resolution with eight votes in favor and one abstention, citing\u00a0 reports of misconduct within the Sheriff\u2019s Office\u2019s HR department, including violations of the County\u2019s workplace standards, intimidation, retaliation and diminishing employee confidence.<\/p>\n<p>Employees in these positions \u2014 including two HR specialists and two administrative operations coordinators \u2014 help Dyer hire and train other employees, maintain records, facilitate payroll, supervise the department and implement policies. The lawsuit seeks to challenge the Board\u2019s reallocation of power.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The resolution also states it would not reduce the Sheriff\u2019s power, as it still maintains the authority to hire and fire police officers. However, the lawsuit argues the Sheriff\u2019s control of HR positions is crucial as workers are granted access to confidential law enforcement records. The Office claims it cannot effectively execute its duties without control of the positions.<\/p>\n<p>Commissioner Justin Hodge, D-District 5 and vice chair of the Board of Commissioners, said during the Dec. 3 <a href=\"https:\/\/washtenawcomi.portal.civicclerk.com\/event\/1571\/overview\">meeting<\/a> the Board decided to take action after it was informed of a toxic work environment in the Sheriff\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-1    \">\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<p>\u201cTo the employees that have experienced harm, I\u2019m sorry that we were not able to act fast enough to prevent that harm, and I\u2019m hopeful that taking this step prevents any further harm to our employees,\u201d Hodge said. \u201cWe have a duty and responsibility to all of the staff in Washtenaw County, and that\u2019s why we are taking this step as quickly as we possibly can when we became aware of the significant issues.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>At the meeting, Commissioner Caroline Sanders, D-District 4, said she believes the decision supports employees and will prevent workplace misconduct issues from occurring in the future. Sanders said the County is liable for misconduct in the Sheriff\u2019s Office, which resulted in the resolution.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEmployees should not be faced with having to come into a hostile work environment, and it is our responsibility to make sure that every employee has a level playing field,\u201d Sanders said. \u201cAt the end of the day, people should be able to come in and do their job, receive the direction that they need, the support that they need and sometimes the discipline without being afraid.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The lawsuit claims the Board did not cite factual evidence and instead relied on on rumors from anonymous sources and an incomplete sexual assault investigation as pretext for increased County oversight over the Sheriff\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOn information and belief, the personnel issues primarily involved three instances of internal discipline within the Sheriff\u2019s office,\u201d the lawsuit read. \u201cTwo of the three instances were investigated by the County\u2019s corporation counsel (and an outside law firm), with those investigations concluding that neither the Sheriff nor any of her personnel acted inappropriately.\u201d<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-2    \">\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<p>The lawsuit claims Katie Scott, D-District 9, Board of Commissioners chair, has worked to undermine Dyer\u2019s authority since the Sheriff\u2019s election in November 2024.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCommissioner Katie Scott \u2026 has written to the Sheriff in a reprimanding and condescending tone, including (a) \u2018requesting\u2019 that the Sheriff personally attend meetings and respond to financial and operational questions that fall squarely within her discretion, and (b) chastising her for cancelling a meeting in a way suggesting that the Board possesses supervisory authority over her daily schedule and duties,\u201d the lawsuit read.<\/p>\n<p>In a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washtenaw.org\/1124\/Sheriff\/?contentId=7e44ced4-aaff-49fb-a5c6-1dc9112f322c\">press release<\/a>, Dyer said the lawsuit aims to protect the Sheriff\u2019s Office and its goal of keeping Washtenaw County safe.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSheriff Dyer hopes this action can provide peace and assurances to the hardworking employees at the Sheriff\u2019s Office,\u201d the statement read. \u201cThe Office will continue enacting the Sheriff\u2019s Office mission of creating a safer more just and compassionate Washtenaw County for all. Sheriff\u2019s Office day-to-day, public safety operations and the work to implement the Office\u2019s mission and values will continue, undeterred.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Scott and Dyer did not respond to The Michigan Daily\u2019s request for comment in time for publication.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-3    \">\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<p><em>Daily News Editor Dominic Apap can be reached at <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.michigandaily.com\/news\/news-briefs\/washtenaw-county-sheriff-sues-county-for-taking-control-of-hr-positions\/mailto:dapap@umich.edu\"><em>dapap@umich.edu<\/em><\/a><em>.<\/em><\/p>\n<aside>\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<p><h3 class=\"jp-relatedposts-headline\"><em>Related articles<\/em><\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Washtenaw County Sheriff Alyshia Dyer\u2019s office filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the county, Washtenaw County Administrator Gregory Dill and the Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners after the passage of Resolution 25-249 on Dec. 3, which put four human resource positions at the Sheriff\u2019s Office under the county\u2019s control. The Board of Commissioners approved the resolution [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4094,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[1190,3983,3985,3984,2017,1655],"class_list":{"0":"post-4093","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-control","9":"tag-county","10":"tag-positions","11":"tag-sheriff","12":"tag-sues","13":"tag-washtenaw"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4093","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4093"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4093\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4095,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4093\/revisions\/4095"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4094"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4093"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4093"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4093"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}