A 75-year-old longtime employee at the Richard L. Bean Juvenile Center has sued Knox County, saying she was yanked from a control-room office job and pushed into a physically demanding post supervising detainees with almost no preparation. The complaint, filed this week, says the reassignment aggravated neuropathy in her fingers and arm so badly that she needed surgery.
According to WVLT, the plaintiff, Mary Dailey, says she spent more than 15 years working in the center's control room before she was moved onto a housing pod. The suit names Knox County and Cory Dauer and alleges supervisors shuffled older employees into more physically taxing roles while younger staffers kept administrative duties. The filing says there was "no need" to remove her from the control room before assigning her to duties she insists she could not safely perform.
County Takeover And A String Of Suits
Dailey's lawsuit is the latest legal flare-up tied to the Bean Center since Knox County began taking over operations in summer 2025, a move that followed mounting complaints about how the facility was being run. As detailed by ProPublica, county officials opted for a phased transition that stretched into mid-2026. Records from the Knox County Commission show the board voted to delay the handoff and formally extend that transition period.
Allegations: Ignored Medical Needs And Rushed Training
Dailey's complaint accuses a sergeant at the center, Brad Sabol, of ignoring her documented medical restrictions and forcing her to keep working in a pod despite neuropathy that ultimately required surgery. It also claims staff were expected to absorb policies from another juvenile facility with little in the way of hands-on training, a kind of learn-on-the-fly approach she says put both workers and youth at risk. The suit seeks damages and attorney fees, according to WVLT. The filing tracks with other recent employee actions, including a June suit by Dolly Mack that raised similar complaints about reassignment and training during the takeover.
What This Could Mean Legally
The core claims in Dailey's suit failure to accommodate known medical needs and lack of adequate training go straight to basic employer obligations under federal law. Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act generally requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations for workers with known disabilities, as the EEOC explains in its guidance on disability discrimination and reasonable accommodation. Local coverage has noted that Knox County had not publicly responded to the growing list of complaints and lawsuits as of publication, leaving ongoing questions about staffing and oversight, according to local reports.
Dailey's filing asks the court for damages and attorney fees. The timeline for any hearing or formal county response was not immediately clear.
