Fired PW employees file suit against SF

By CHRIS MENEES
Staff Reporter
Four former South Fulton public works employees have filed a lawsuit against the City of South Fulton.
The six-page lawsuit was filed last week in Obion County Circuit Court by fired city workers David Glisson, Hubert Maynard, Robert Weatherford and James Donnell.
The four men were terminated last month by South Fulton Mayor David Crocker, who was serving in a capacity as interim city manager while the search was under way for a new city manager.
Crocker has cited alleged insubordination as the reason for the terminations, with the situation apparently stemming from an incident over the safety of a gas stove and gas meter at the community room at the South Fulton Municipal Building.
The four fired employees have contended a gas leak created an unsafe situation and a threat to the public, while Crocker has contended he repeatedly asked the employees to make any necessary repairs and has said there actually was no safety issue.
Glisson was employed as a utility foreman/gas operator, Maynard as director of public works, Weatherford as a backhoe operator and Donnell as a laborer, according to the lawsuit.
In three pages of the lawsuit, the four former employees outline the alleged events leading up to their March 13 and 14 firings to support their claims of an unsafe situation.
They also allege in the suit that they were never given formal separation notices or provided with a grievance hearing, which has now resulted in their taking legal action.
The four men are seeking “reinstatement without retaliation.” They have requested a jury trial and have asked for relief that includes damages “in the amount of any wages, salary, employment benefits or other compensation, including, but not limited to, back pay and front pay, plus prejudgment interest.”
In addition, they are seeking relief from any actual monetary loss they sustained and “mental and emotional suffering, humiliation and embarrassment,” as well as reasonable attorneys’ fees, the costs and expenses of the action and “such other legal and equitable relief” to which they may be entitled.
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Staff Reporter Chris Menees may be contacted by e-mail at cmenees@ucmessenger.com.

Published in The Messenger 4.28.11

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