State eyes settlements in discrimination complaint, burn lawsuit, overflowing sink claim

IOWA CITY — The University of Iowa has agreed to settle an Iowa Civil Rights Commission complaint of discrimination and retaliation from a former consultant for its Native Center for Behavioral Health — a UI College of Public Health-based enterprise supporting the Native American behavioral health workforce.

Although Theresa Sault-Brill sought $95,000 from the university to remedy what she characterized as “significant lost wages” and “emotional distress,” she signed a $20,000 settlement last Thursday and agreed not to pursue or accept any future UI employment.

She also agreed not to sue the UI, which is not conceding any wrongdoing.

The settlement, scheduled for considered next month by Iowa’s Board of Appeals, followed a Nov. 3 letter Sault-Brill’s attorney sent the UI, accusing it of cutting off employment opportunities after she reported sexual harassment on campus.

“Since Theresa’s report and the adjudication, the University of Iowa has completely stopped giving her work,” according to the letter, reporting the UI initially said Sault-Brill was not qualified.

But from January through September of 2022, the attorney reported, the UI assigned Sault-Brill 49 projects. After that September and Sault-Brill’s harassment allegations, she received only three assignments. And after December 2022, all work ceased.

“The qualification requirements did not suddenly change, justifying the cessation of work for Theresa,” they attorney wrote.

Although UI officials originally suggested Sault-Brill wasn’t qualified, the letter suggested they later changed their reasoning. “The university has now taken the position that her work was reduced because she was unprofessional,” according to the letter. “This drastic change in reasons is evidence of illegal motivations.”

Her attorney noted the irony of her client’s experience, given the goal of the program she worked on “was to help Native Americans deal with trauma and mental health issues.”

“Theresa experienced trauma,” according to the letter. “And the program’s response was to leave her out in the cold.”

Although UI disputes the allegations and contends its decisions “were based on several non-discriminatory reasons, including the fact that funding for Ms. Sault-Brill’s work was about to terminate,” the Iowa Attorney General’s Office suggested the settlement to avoid more litigation.

Flooded sink

The state Tuesday approved a claim of $36,529 for an Indiana-based orthopedic and neurosurgery sales company that lost equipment in December when a UI Hospitals and Clinics staffer left a sink running.

Water overflowing from the faucet damaged medical supplies stored one floor below the flooded sink, according to the claim paying DePuy Synthes Sales for the damages.

“The supplies are stored on site at UIHC at the request of, and for the convenience of, UIHC staff to allow for immediate treatment of trauma patients,” according to the claim.

UIHC officials did not immediately respond to The Gazette’s questions about how much total damage the sink flooding caused the hospital.

Inmate burns

Among the settlements the Board of Appeals will consider in May is one paying a former inmate $25,000 for a shower burn he received in 2015. Randy Longstreath, serving a sentence for felony burglary and kidnapping, reported taking a shower at the Iowa Medical Classification Center in Coralville in September 2015, when a “sudden change in water temperature caused his left foot to sustain a second-degree burn.”

The burn required a skin graft at the UI Hospitals and Clinics later that month, and Longstreath sued in 2018 — reporting he’d been left with “a significantly scarred left foot from the scalding burn. It remains painful and sensitive to touch.”

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