By Julie Manganis
The Eagle Tribune
MIDDLETON, Mass. — The state Appeals Court has upheld the firing of two Middleton Jail correctional officers over their sanctioning of violent, racist posts targeting Sheriff Frank Cousins, his supporters and his family on a union-run Internet message board six years ago.
The posts, which were authored by a third employee who was also fired, suggested that Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassin, James Earl Ray, could “help” the Essex County Correctional Officers Association resolve its disputes with Cousins, who is African-American.
In addition to being fired, the author of those posts, Scott Thompson, was subsequently convicted of criminal harassment. Two union officials were also fired.
The decision Wednesday found that an earlier order by an arbitrator to rehire those officials, former union president Jerry Enos and webmaster K. Ricky Thompson, “contravenes the well-defined and dominant public policy against race and sex discrimination.”
Full Story: State Appeals Court upholds firings of jail guards for racist posts