Former Beaufort police sergeant sues city, alleging retaliation and wrongful termination

BEAUFORT, S.C. (WTOC) - A former Beaufort Police Department sergeant has filed a lawsuit against the city, its former police chief and its current police chief, alleging she was retaliated against and wrongfully terminated after raising concerns about the department’s work environment.

Stephanie Fritz filed the complaint Aug. 10. The lawsuit names the City of Beaufort, former Police Chief Dale McDorman and current Police Chief Stephenie Price as defendants. Fritz is seeking a jury trial.

City of Beaufort acknowledges lawsuit

We reached out to the City of Beaufort, who confirmed Chief Dale McDorman retired from the Beaufort Police Department and said Chief Stephenie Price currently serves as the Chief of Police for the Beaufort Police Department.

The city said they are aware of the suit and plan to file a response with the court in due course, which will be available to the public.

The city said they will not provide additional details about the facts of the case while the matter is pending before the court.

Background alleged in the lawsuit

According to the complaint, Fritz was hired by the Beaufort City Police Department on July 8, 2008. She worked as a patrolman before serving in other roles, including school resource officer, victim advocate and investigator in the special victims unit. In 2022, according to the complaint, she became an investigator and was promoted to sergeant.

The lawsuit states Fritz was appointed in 2022 to the Police Chief’s improvement council, which was given a survey to complete. Fritz alleges she raised concerns in the survey about the department’s performance responding to juvenile delinquency and mental health crisis calls, officer job satisfaction, compensation and the work environment.

The complaint alleges Chief McDorman called Fritz into his office and challenged her survey responses, telling her “she was given whatever [she] want[s],” and suggested her responses stemmed from stress related to a divorce rather than legitimate concerns. In the lawsuit, Fritz alleges she felt the response was sex-based.

According to the complaint, after Fritz raised concerns in the 2022 workplace survey and filed an internal hostile work environment complaint, she faced increased scrutiny. The lawsuit alleges she was demoted in October 2023 and terminated days later.

See full lawsuit below:

The lawsuit states the city referred Fritz to the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division and the South Carolina Criminal Justice Academy over allegations she improperly deleted case files, which she denies. According to the complaint, both agencies later found no wrongdoing by Fritz.

The lawsuit brings seven causes of action, including malicious prosecution, abuse of process, negligence, civil conspiracy and a violation of the South Carolina Payment of Wages Act. Fritz is seeking damages, reinstatement or front pay and a court order requiring the city to hold a grievance hearing on her termination.

The City of Beaufort, McDorman and Price have not filed a response as of publication. WTOC reached out to the City of Beaufort for more information and they said they are aware of the lawsuit and plant to file a response with the court.