A former correctional officer with the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's Department has filed a lawsuit against the agency for alleged discrimination, wrongful termination and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

Edward Cox, 26, claims he was fired from the Sheriff's Department in October 2007, after working for the department for four months, because of his physical disability.

Cox suffers from cerebral palsy, which is a disability resulting from damage to the brain, either before, during or after birth. Symptoms include impaired muscular coordination and speech disturbances.

Cox was hired by the department in June 2007 and was assigned to work at the County Jail, where he alleges that he was verbally abused by his training officer for drinking a cup of coffee that the officer believed was his.

The complaint also alleges another incident where Cox claims he was reprimanded for disobeying a direct order from a female supervisor, who told Cox to make her a pot of coffee, but he didn't because he got busy with other duties.

“The custom and practice of the department regarding coffee, consistent with the department rules, was that if an officer wanted coffee and there was none, the officer should make coffee for him or herself,” the lawsuit reads.

Sheriff's Department spokesman Rob Bryn said he couldn't comment on the allegations in the lawsuit because of pending litigation and because Cox's termination is a personnel issue.

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In another incident, Cox claims he was written up for allegedly leaving his keys unattended on his desk while he went outside the building to retrieve the mail. According to the lawsuit, Cox claims he told a supervisor he was leaving the keys on his desk, which is consistent with department rules.

Cox also claims that during the four months he worked for the Sheriff's Department, “he was frequently not given the proper training required to allow him to successfully complete his assignments.”

Maury Mills, Cox's Ventura-based attorney, said his client's disability is visibly noticeable “to a certain extent,” but that he was able to perform his job duties at the Sheriff's Department without any help.

“We aren't alleging there was a failure to accommodate,” Mills said about the lawsuit that was filed in Superior Court July 11. “Our allegation is that he was able to perform all functions of his job without any

accommodation. He passed whatever testing requirements there were ... and his mid-level supervisors took it upon themselves to discriminate against him.”

The lawsuit claims that prior to the date Cox and four other newly hired people started working with the Sheriff's Department, Senior Correctional Officer Lars Luthers told another correctional officer that “if Cox were given a position as a trainee that Luthers would not be going easy on Cox.”

It's also alleged in the complaint that Luthers “did not make the same statement with regard to the other four new trainees.”

Cox was terminated on Oct. 17, with no reason given to him, according to the lawsuit. He's seeking unspecified monetary damages for lost wages and emotional duress - embarrassment, humiliation and mental anguish.

August 5, 2008