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A former Kendallville water department employee testified in federal court Monday that his boss repeatedly lectured him about the state of his soul.
After Greg Rice was fired in November 2006, he sued Water Department Superintendent Scott Mosley and the city of Kendallville in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana, claiming he was the victim of religious discrimination.
Monday was the first day of testimony in the trial, which could take the rest of the week.
According to court documents, Rice was fired for insubordination because he allegedly hung up on Mosley during a telephone call and argued with the staff in the clerk’s office.
Rice claimed that Mosley, also a pastor at Grace Community Church in Kendallville, changed when he was promoted to the position of superintendent, constantly questioning Rice about his sexual relationships and his family life and threatening him with termination if he complained.
“He told me I was living in sin, being a ‘whoremonger,’ ” Rice said, adding that Mosley once saw Rice’s teenage daughter walking down the street in shorts and a tank top.
Mosley said she looked like a “little harlot,” Rice testified.
Rice testified that Mosley talked to him about how God would “bring people back into the fold” by affecting their health or causing the loss of a job.
“He would say, ‘Jesus died for you, and you live the way you do?’,” Rice said.
On one occasion, Rice testified, he and his fiancée were in the water building. Mosley told her that she and Rice should not be alone as a couple for at least six months because Rice had problems in the past with promiscuity.
Mosley created an Internet policy, one not in writing, prohibiting some staff members from using the Internet without someone else in the room. He also set passwords using words like “sin” and “discipline,” according to testimony.
One employee, a deacon in Mosley’s church, was allowed to use the computer without supervision, according to court documents and testimony.
Rice served a one-day suspension for failing to have supervision while he used the Internet, according to testimony.
Mosley also created a policy prohibiting water department employees from being in the clerk’s office for more than five minutes at a time and from going beyond the service window, according to testimony.
One employee, Troy Climie, another member of Mosley’s church, had an altercation with a member of the clerk’s staff but was not suspended or terminated, according to court documents.
On Nov. 14, 2006, Rice was reading meters and contacted the clerk’s office to tell them two addresses were not entered into his hand-held device. A few minutes later, Mosley called Rice and told him to go ahead and write down the addresses himself.
Rice called back and asked for a meeting to discuss the matter with the clerk’s office. He said Mosley interrupted him.
“He said, ‘Shut up and do what you’re told or I’ll have to deal with you on paper,’ ” Rice said.
Later that day, Mosley suspended Rice for three days but provided him no written documentation of why he was being disciplined.
The next day, Mosley fired Rice when he reported back to work.
When Rice went to Mayor Suzanne Handshoe to see how to appeal his suspension and termination, Mosley complained, according to court documents.
