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NEWSLETTER SIGN UPReview and updates of the
Barrow County investigations
Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission (EEOC) Charges
GIS Manager Tonie Russell was demoted from her position as GIS director during the reduction in force. She filed an EEOC complaint Aug. 4 and has retained attorney Danielle Berry. Russell also filed a formal complaint against the county the same day as her EEOC complaint. The letter to the county described what she perceived as racial and gender inequities, as well as personal discrimination. After bringing those concerns to light, the GIS department was moved from the Tax Assessors office.
Updates: Last week the county’s attorney, Angie Davis, confirmed that the county had responded to Russell’s EEOC complaint. She said it’s now just a matter of time before the EEOC makes its ruling. Davis said filing an EEOC complaint is a necessary first step before filing a lawsuit in this kind of case.
"Maybe there’s a lawsuit forthcoming," she said.
Georgia Bureau of Investigations
On Oct. 26, Norma Jean Brown discovered a threatening voicemail at her office. She had been out sick the Friday before, when the call came in. The Sheriff’s Office responded to the call and Sheriff Jud Smith handed the case over to the Georgia Bureau of Investigations Oct. 27.
Updates: GBI Special Agent Jim Fullington said Friday the agency is moving forward on the case, but did not have any leads.
Private Investigator
At its Oct. 27 meeting, the Barrow County Board of Commissioners spent two hours in a closed-door executive session in which they heard personnel allegations, brought by HR Director Norma Jean Brown on her own behalf, as well as other employees’. After coming out of the meeting, Commissioner Steve Worley said, "We have received some serious allegations regarding personnel in the county. To address these issues, I make a motion to hire a private investigator to fully investigate the allegations." The motion directed County Attorney Angie Davis to coordinate with Operations Manager Bob Hohe in hiring a private investigator.
Later that week, Hohe received a directive to act as the Human Resources Department’s direct supervisor. Normally the human resources director would report directly to the Board of Commissioners Chairman. The directive also instructed Brown not to discuss issues associated with the investigation with the chairman, commissioners and the county attorney.
Updates: Last week Davis called the directive "just a precaution." The county has not hired a private investigator yet, but Hohe said Friday he’s "getting close."
Pending EEOC charges
Human Resources Director Norma Jean Brown has hired Atlanta attorney Cheryl Legare to file an EEOC complaint.
Update: Legare said Thursday that they have not filed a complaint yet but intend to soon. The complaint will include alleged Title VII violations, but because the complaint isn’t finished, Legare couldn’t provide more details.
Legare also said she has not been retained by any other county employees, but she does expect to be.
– Compiled by Emily Banks,
Barrow County News
ebanks@barrowcountynews.com
Of all full-time Barrow County employees, 12 percent are minorities, with almost two-thirds of them located in the Sheriff’s Department. Only three of them are located in the Barrow County Annex, and two of those three were demoted during the county’s reduction in force earlier this year.
After one county employee’s Equal Employment Opportunity Commission complaint – which alleges racial and gender discrimination – came to light over a week ago, the Barrow County News requested, under Georgia open records laws, access to data that includes every full-time county employee’s race, gender, position and pay grade.
Here’s a breakdown of the county’s full-time staff, as well as analysis of the employees who were laid off or demoted since the beginning of the year.
A look at race
Forty-eight of the county’s more than 400 full-time employees identify themselves as black or African-American, Hispanic or Latino, American Indian or native Alaskan, or Asian. Forty-one of them are hourly workers, making up about 12 percent of all the county’s full-time, hourly employees. Only eight minority employees are salaried, out of 72 total.
After the reduction in force, only one minority department director remains. Two other black department directors, including Tonie Russell who filed the EEOC complaint, were demoted during the reduction in force, which included the demotion of a total of nine employees.According to personnel records, Russell was also demoted two pay grades, while other employees who were demoted from director positions were only demoted one pay grade.
The county laid off a total of 18 employees – excluding those who took layoffs voluntarily – and four of them were minorities.
The highest paid hourly employees are white.
Four minority employees receive the top hourly wages, compared to 70 white employees who also fall into the top five pay grades.
And on the lower end of the pay scale, three of four employees who receive the lowest hourly wage are black or Latino.
A look at gender
Men make up more than twice as many full-time county employees as women. Female employees make up 32 percent of the county’s full-time staff.
About the same number of men and women receive salaries, but women clearly earn less than their male counterparts.
Of all the female employees, 26.5 percent of them are salaried, compared to 27.4 percent of men who are salaried.
Those numbers are relatively even, but of the 34 salaried employees at a pay grade of 21 or higher, only four of them are women.
Of the hourly paid employees, women make up the largest portion of the lowest pay grade levels.
Thirty-one women fall into the lowest five hourly pay grades, compared to only six men who receive the same pay.
On the other end of the hourly pay scale, only seven women receive the top five wages, compared to 67 men.
Of the 18 layoffs that took place earlier this year, seven of them were women.
And all the employees who took voluntary layoffs were women; there were seven of them.
