The controversy surrounding the Missaukee (Mich.) District Library board’s March 15 firing of director Kathy Glass intensified as it was revealed that Glass’s predecessor, Dorothy Everett, would receive $37,500 from the library’s insurance company to cover her attorney’s fees, wage-loss benefits, and medical expenses involved in a worker’s compensation dispute. One of the conditions of the settlement was that she terminate her employment.
Everett, who served at the library for 22 years, including five as director until she was demoted to librarian in March 2000, said she had not spoken out about her own negative experiences with the library board until now because she had thought it was in the library’s best interest.
After being demoted, Everett took a leave of absence for stress-related health reasons. When she asked the library to cover medical expenses of approximately $1,000, they disputed it, she said in the April 21 Cadillac News. “It should never have happened,” Everett said. “The board created this mess.”
No one from the library board contacted her directly about the matter, Everett said. Instead, she was informed by letter that she was not to return to work until she signed an agreement to employment terms. “I couldn’t even go in that library unless I was escorted by another library employee,” she said.
Posted April 30, 2001.