Ex-DuPage County Deputy Loses Gender Discrimination Suit Against Sheriff's Department

A jury found the DuPage County Sheriff’s Office did not engage in gender discrimination as claimed in a lawsuit filed by former 11-year employee Susan Kuttner.

The jury reached its verdict Thursday afternoon after 90 minutes of deliberations after a four-day trial in federal court.

In February 1998, the DuPage County Sheriff’s Office hired Kuttner to serve as a Deputy Sheriff. Kuttner held that position until Oct. 7, 2009, when she was terminated by the DuPage County Sheriff’s Merit Commission for violating the department’s regulations and directives, according to DuPage County State’s Attorney Robert B. Berlin. In 2010, Kuttner filed the lawsuit against the DuPage County Sheriff’s Office.

Kuttner, of Bolingbrook, claimed she was attacked by female inmates due to unsafe conditions at the jail. She said sheriff’s department management did nothing to address her requests to improve the safety conditions.

The sheriff’s department, led by John Zaruba at the time, countered that Kuttner was a chronic complainer and that she deserved to be fired because she used her official office to help her boyfriend try to collect on a debt.

Kuttner said she had “an unblemished, exemplary record,” according to a report in the Daily Herald in 2010, noting that 15 male deputies with various transgressions on their record, including DUIs, domestic battery and prostitute solicitation.

Kuttner also claimed wrongful termination from the Sheriff’s Office as well as breach of contract regarding sick-day benefits and adoption assistance benefits. These claims were summarily dismissed in favor of the Sheriff’s Office prior to trial.

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