Kansas officials offer $90k to former state employees who alleged discrimination, retaliation

TOPEKA — Kansas officials offered a combined $90,000 in payouts to settle lawsuits from two former state employees who alleged the state discriminated and retaliated against them.

The State Finance Council on Wednesday approved agreements to pay a former state hospital employee and a former commerce department program director.

The council consists of Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly and legislative leadership from both parties, and it debated the agreements in secrecy with members of the Kansas Attorney General’s Office during a virtual meeting, keeping mum about the details of the reasoning for settling the lawsuits. Kansas Reflector obtained a copy of the settlement agreements, which contain only the amounts and standard legal language. Previous iterations of the council debated agreements like Wednesdays’ in public forums, but it is no longer common practice.

The payouts come from a designated tort claims fund of taxpayer dollars.

Jamie Harsell was hired in January 2024 to work as a program director for the Kansas Department of Commerce. Harsell was diagnosed with persistent and significant mental health issues that prompted her to request accommodations from her supervisors. Her mental health provider told a state employee supervisor that Harsell “requires flexibility in her work schedule to accommodate the chronic and debilitating nature of her mental health diagnoses,” and she “would benefit from a schedule that allows her to work from home a minimum of two days per week,” according to court documents.

Commerce Department staff repeatedly denied Harsell’s requests for disability accommodations.

In Harsell’s initial court filing, she alleged the state violated the Americans with Disabilities Act by failing to accommodate her conditions, treated her disparately because of her disabilities and retaliated against her.

She asked to be given backpay and reinstated to her position or, if not reinstated, she asked to be reimbursed for lost wages and benefits with interest. Those requests were in addition to an ask for $300,000 in damages for “monetary losses, emotional pain, suffering, inconvenience, mental anguish, (and) loss of enjoyment of life”

A federal judge scheduled the case to go to trial in Topeka, but in April, the case stalled as parties negotiated a settlement, according to court filings.

The council agreed unanimously to pay Harsell $83,328.

Runnels, who is Black, had worked since 2000 at Larned State Hospital, which is overseen by the Kansas Department of Corrections. He alleged in a lawsuit filed in federal court in May 2025 the state discriminated against him for his race and sex. He said in court filings a female coworker in 2024 allegedly “engaged in flirtatious banter, made sexual comments and propositions and touched plaintiff inappropriately.”

Runnels reported the behavior to management, but within days, he was let go, according to the lawsuit.

In February, a federal judge agreed that the state’s firing of Runnels was retaliatory, but he dismissed discrimination claims.

State leaders unanimously agreed to award Runnels $10,000.