A former corrections worker in Waterloo is taking the First Judicial District Department of Correctional Services to court for allegedly firing her for sharing publicly available information with a client while male co-workers were allowed to keep their jobs despite criminal convictions. Kristen Johnson was terminated from the Women’s Center for Change in August of 2020. She is accused of showing her computer screen to a client. On the screen was information on charges against the father of the client’s child. Johnson says she never showed the client her screen and had pulled the information up to help counsel the woman on the woman’s relationship going forward. Johnson’s attorneys say that male counterparts were convicted of Domestic Abuse and Operating While Intoxicated which resulted in offenders supervising other offenders. Johnson also claims her supervisor pressured her to make a purchase from the supervisors online store. Johnson says she continues to receive marketing emails from the supervisors business. Attorneys for the department say that Johnson was terminated for “legitimate, nondiscriminatory, and non-retaliatory business reasons.
