New EEOC charges filed by county employees

Attorney Steven V. Wolfe of Buckley & Klein LLP said in a Jan. 29 e-mail to county attorney Angela Davis: “The nature of Mr. (David G.) Archer’s report compelled us to file our clients’ EEOC Charges, which we did the day we received a copy of the report.”

Archer, a Cartersville attorney hired by the county three months ago to investigate discrimination allegations by Human Resources Director Norma Jean Brown and her staff, said in his report that he found no corroboration of claims that Barrow County Commission Chairman Danny Yearwood and department director Lyn Clement had violated federal or state employment laws.

After interviewing 34 current or former employees and officials, Archer found that Yearwood and Clement had violated only a county policy prohibiting “conduct that is offensive to employees” – the use of “abusive language or discourteous treatment” of employees.

However, Wolfe wrote that his firm disagrees with both Archer’s conclusions and his fact-finding.

“There are significant indications that he was biased in favor of the County,” Wolfe wrote in the e-mail that the Barrow Journal obtained through an open-records request.

“Among other things, he declined to interview witnesses identified by our clients and he required unanimous testimony in our clients’ favor when purportedly applying a ‘preponderance of the evidence’ standard.”

Wolfe said his firm does not view the report as a “point against” its clients and he referred Davis to the outcome of his firm’s most recent case involving a municipality that produced such a report.

In that case, the City of Kennesaw last July settled with three employees for a total of $1.8 million and is now suing its insurance carrier, which agreed to pay only $1 million of the settlement, according to news accounts.

Wolfe sent his e-mail two days after the county attorney sent him an e-mail offering to extend the deadline for filing any EEOC complaints and broaching the subject of settlement talks. Davis sent her e-mail Jan. 27, the same day that Archer submitted his report.

Wolfe said his clients – Human Resources Director Norma Jean Brown, senior network engineer Sebastian Ododa, and planner Daunte Gibbs – would be open to a settlement.

“We feel strongly that a negotiated settlement would be in the best interests of everyone involved in the case,” he wrote.

The attorney for two other Barrow County employees – Sophia “Tonie” Russell of Geographic Information Services and Diane Merriweather of Roads & Bridges – said in an e-mail this week to the Barrow Journal that her firm also has discussed the possibility of a settlement.

“Our firm has been in touch with attorneys at Jarrard & Davis, including Angie Davis,” wrote Berry. “While no formal settlement offers have been made by either side, we have discussed the possibility of settlement and would be open to a fair settlement of our clients’ claims.”

Berry said Archer’s report would not impact her firm’s decision to proceed against the county on behalf of Russell or Merriweather. Both of those women filed EEOC complaints in 2009.

For more details, see the Feb. 10 edition of the Barrow Journal.