By Lucas Smolcic Larson
mlive.com
WASHTENAW COUNTY, Mich. — A former corrections officer at the Washtenaw County jail claims in a new lawsuit he was sexually harassed by a colleague and then punished with undesirable overnight shift assignments after reporting the conduct.
Andre Lewis sued Washtenaw County on July 24, alleging violations of state civil rights and whistleblower protection laws.
Lewis quit July 6 after being forced to work midnight shifts and facing an “intolerable and cruel work environment,” according to his complaint.
“It’s a brutal situation. He couldn’t tolerate it,” said his attorney Robin Wagner. “He wants a little bit of justice for having been drummed out of a job.”
A sheriff’s office spokesperson referred MLive to Washtenaw County Corporation Counsel Michelle Billard, who didn’t respond to requests for comment sent by email and phone.
The lawsuit comes after a series of personnel controversies and is the third this year to be filed by an ex-employee of the Washtenaw County Sheriff’s Office alleging retaliation for reporting concerns.
The other two suits, filed in June, came from former human resources employees who claimed they were fired after raising red flags about questionable hiring practices at the sheriff’s office under first-term Sheriff Alyshia Dyer. Officials deny those allegations.
Lewis’ lawsuit focuses on how command staff handled his report of unwanted sexual advances from a fellow corrections officer.
He was hired in mid-2025, according to county employment records.
The job represented a career pivot for Lewis, who previously worked as a barber. He liked the new position at the sheriff’s office and got off to a promising start, according to Wagner.
But then Lewis began to receive “unwelcome” text messages and comments at work from a fellow corrections officer. She called him “love,” “handsome,” “honey” and “babe,” instead of his name, according to the lawsuit.
The colleague also initiated unwanted physical contact at work, brushing against Lewis, the complaint alleges.
Lewis asked the colleague to stop, but the alleged harassment continued during a corrections training program at Washtenaw Community College in April 2026, according to the lawsuit.
During class, the colleague sent Lewis a text reading “hey sexy” and another saying he had a “fine face.” While partnered during training exercises, she intentionally caused inappropriate physical contact between them, the lawsuit claims.
Sheriff’s office policy explicitly bans sexual harassment, and Lewis reported the incidents to his superiors on April 21, asking them to intervene.
They informed the colleague her conduct violated policy but took “no further remedial, corrective, or protective action” on Lewis’ behalf, the lawsuit alleges.
“She faced zero consequences,” Wagner said.
Then, less than three weeks after reporting the alleged harassment, Lewis was reassigned from a day shift to a night shift, according to the lawsuit. He had to work from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m., despite his preference for a 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. schedule.
The change took a mental and physical toll on him, interrupting his sleep schedule, particularly when also forced to work mandatory overtime extending into the next day, the lawsuit states. He suffered from headaches and extreme fatigue, according to the complaint.
The assignment also stood out, with other employees given their preferred work assignments. Though it was done “ostensibly” to limit contact with the colleague he had lodged the complaint against, Lewis found it unfair she remained on her preferred shift, according to the lawsuit.
When he raised the issue with other superiors, one told him to “figure it out,” the lawsuit states.
The response “made it clear that the Sheriff’s Office had intentionally assigned Mr. Lewis to an undesirable shift as payback for reporting sexual harassment,” it claims.
Additionally, coworkers found out about Lewis’ complaint against the colleague, despite policy mandating confidentiality of internal investigations, which made him a “pariah” at work, the lawsuit alleges.
“What had been an enjoyable and promising new career for Mr. Lewis as a Sheriff’s Deputy became a nightmare of constant fatigue and ostracization by his coworkers,” the lawsuit states.
Lewis eventually resigned.
The lawsuit maintains county officials violated Michigan’s Whistleblowers’ Protection Act and the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act by retaliating against Lewis and allowing word of his complaint to spread among employees.
It requests the court award attorney’s fees, damages for emotional distress, back pay and lost benefits and other compensation to make Lewis whole, or order his reinstatement.
The lawsuit is currently pending in Washtenaw County Circuit Court before Judge Julia Owdziej, and Washtenaw County officials have not yet filed a response.
The sheriff’s office has faced scrutiny from county leaders over human resources practices and handling of employee complaints under Dyer, who was elected in 2024 as the county’s first new sheriff in 16 years.
In 2025, Washtenaw County spent at least $111,000 on investigations by outside attorneys, including into an alleged marijuana roach discovered in Dyer’s county-issued SUV, records show. The inquiries failed to substantiate any of the concerns, and Dyer has called them a waste of taxpayer dollars.
The sheriff rejects claims of personnel mismanagement and has framed the investigations as emblematic of politically motivated attacks against her office.
Wagner said she could only speak to her client’s claims and wouldn’t speculate on whether they were part of any wider pattern at the sheriff’s office.
Still, she said the stakes of her client’s complaint are particularly high.
“If you’re going to act to enforce the laws of our country and our state and our county, it’s really important to also make sure that your workplace protections are in place and that you’re not letting people trample important state and federal workplace protections,” she said.
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