By Rapids City Times staff

WISCONSIN RAPIDS – The Wood County sheriff has filed a lawsuit against his employer.

Tom Reichert is set to retire in early January, when his current term expires. In the lawsuit, Sheriff Reichert says he’s owed money for more than 1,000 hours of comp time and sick leave.

The lawsuit says the money is owed from time accumulated before he became sheriff, over a dozen years ago.

Reichert says he’s entitled to post-employment health benefits from his time as the deputy sheriff, and that includes 10.5 hours of comp time and 993 hours of unused sick time.

The county says Reichert is not eligible for that money.

The Human Resources Department sent the Reichert a letter saying in part, “Wood County does not award sick, vacation, or other compensatory time off accruals or balances to any elected official.”

The letter goes on to say that any employee’s sick time balances racked up before being elected are forfeited.

The lawsuit cites a 2015 resolution which appears to contradict that.

Reichert was elected Wood County sheriff in 2006.