Supreme Court Sides With Former Lee County Jailer

JACKSON, MS (WCBI) – A former jailer at the Lee County  Sheriffs Department will get unemployment benefits.   Crystal Finnie was terminated from her post at the jail in 2009 because she began wearing a skirt to work because she had joined the Pentecostal Church which requires women to wear skirts.   Sheriff Jim Johnson says wearing the skirt violated the department dress code for jailers that required pants.  Finnie was initially granted unemployment benefits because a Mississippi Department Of Employment Security Board of Review ruled her firing was not because of willful misconduct.  Lee County Supervisors appealed that ruling to Circuit Court which said Finnie should not get unemployment.  The Mississippi Supreme Court Thursday reversed that Circuit Court decision and sided with Finnie and ordered her to receive the unemployment benefits.   The ruling does not have any impact on Finnie being reinstated to her job.