A Bucks County corrections officer alleges the county punished him for taking federally protected medical leave by assigning him the worst duties at the Doylestown jail.

Anthony Pekarski, a corrections officer since 2011, filed the federal lawsuit Sept. 3 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Jo Ciavaglia of the Bucks County Courier Times first reported the suit. Bucks County is the sole defendant. The complaint alleges civil rights and Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) violations.

Pekarski suffered a serious ankle injury in a 2018 car accident that limits his ability to walk and stand, according to the lawsuit. He applied for and received intermittent Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) approval, allowing him up to three days off, six times a month, for rest or treatment. He has renewed the request every six months as required.

The suit alleges that after his leave was approved, Pekarski received "less favorable and more tolling job posts," meaning more physically demanding assignments, despite his seniority. Those included working with mentally ill inmates.

In July 2024, the lawsuit alleges, Pekarski was placed in a post where he had to use force on an inmate. That incident led to his termination. He was reinstated after an arbitration hearing.

When Pekarski returned to work in November 2025, the suit alleges he was assigned the jail's most undesirable position, one requiring him to walk the grounds extensively. The complaint alleges the department used that assignment to pressure employees into resigning.

Pekarski was told an upper-management administrator had directed that he receive only the worst duties, the lawsuit states. When he asked the county's human resources department to investigate, his union representative told him to stop filing complaints because the county would retaliate, according to the suit.

The complaint describes a "pattern and practice" of punishing employees who use FMLA or ADA protections with less desirable assignments.

No response from Bucks County or its attorneys appears in public records as of publication. The Courier Times, which broke the story, did not report a county response.

Pekarski's lawsuit is the latest in a string of legal actions by Doylestown jail employees. In September 2025, the county paid $175,000 to settle lawsuits with two former female corrections officers who alleged sexual discrimination and harassment.

A separate case brought by former officer Ara Kimbrough, who alleged the county fired him for revealing chronic jail understaffing to an attorney who had sued the county, was dismissed by a federal judge earlier in 2026. An appeal is pending before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.

No hearing date for the Pekarski case has been announced.