Woman hired when Whitby was Industrial Authority chairman sues authority, county

Brittany Childs, who was hired by the Macon-Bibb County Industrial Authority in April 2014 as an administrative assistant, has filed a lawsuit saying she was fired in 2017 because she is a black woman.

Childs is suing the Authority, Macon-Bibb County and Levarn Bradford, the authority’s former operations and finance director who retired in April.

Childs was hired under the direction of former chairman Cliffard Whitby. He resigned in August 2017 when a grand jury indicted him in a public corruption probe linked to technology sales to the Bibb County school district in 2012. In October 2018, a court found Whitby not guilty of federal bribery and money laundering charges.

Childs was terminated Aug. 16, 2017, according to the suit.

Childs’ claims the defendants violated the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution “to redress (Childs’) rights to be free from race and sex discrimination” and from retaliation under the constitution of the federal and state government.

“Plaintiff was terminated for something that similarly situated white employees were not terminated for,” said the suit filed by attorney Maurice Luther King Jr., a sole practitioner in Albany. “But for the fact of (Child’s) status as a black female, she would not have been terminated.”

The authority denies the allegations in its answer to the suit and in an email Friday to The Telegraph from its attorney Kevin Brown.

“The Industrial Authority is an equal opportunity employer and adamantly denies the meritless allegations of this complaint,” Brown said. “However, the Industrial Authority has a policy not to comment on details of pending litigation.”

In the authority’s answer filed with the court, it claims Bradford did not participate in the decision to terminate Childs, and the claims against Bradford should be dismissed. And it denies “any discrimination or retaliation against plaintiff at any time.”

Also, in an answer from Macon-Bibb County it said the claim against the county should be dismissed because Childs was not an employee of the county government. Other allegations also were denied.

Childs’ lawsuit said she was hired as an administrative assistant, she “consistently performed her duties in a satisfactory manner, and she received numerous merit based promotions before she was discharged.” The last position she held was as administrative coordinator.

Childs was terminated by the authority because she failed to follow instructions on the date she was terminated, the suit said.

The lawsuit also claims that the day she was fired, “the defendants refused and/or prevented the plaintiff from leaving the building against the free will of plaintiff,” which it claims “constitute false imprisonment under Georgia law.”

On Nov. 9, 2017, Childs filed an employment discrimination complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. However, the EEOC closed the file on the charge because the authority “employs less than the required number of employees or is not otherwise covered by the statutes.”

The suit, asking for a jury trial, said Childs is due compensatory damages and attorney’s fees. She wants “back pay, front pay, lost employment benefits” and other fees and costs. Also, she asked to be reinstated to her former position or a comparable position.