Fired transgender fire chief sends new demand to Byron leaders. Here are the details.

A transgender fire chief has made a second demand for reinstatement and back pay since she was fired just over a year ago by the city of Byron.

Rachel Mosby also has a discrimination lawsuit pending in federal court in Macon.

In the demand, an attorney for Mosby argues that the city administrator did not have the authority to fire Mosby because she was a department head and that only the mayor and council could make such a decision.

“This demand is quite different from the one last year,” Mosby’s attorney Kenneth E. Barton said in an email to the Telegraph. “In June 2019, we demanded that that the city should have provided Chief Mosby with the opportunity to appeal her termination.

“Now, based upon our review of all of the city’s charter, ordinances, and personnel policies, it has become clear to us that the city failed to properly terminate Chief Mosby. Whether or not Chief Mosby, as a department head, was entitled to an appeal shouldn’t matter. She should still be considered an employee of the city and entitled to her old job.”

The Telegraph reached out to the Byron’s mayor, city attorney and city administrator for comment.

“Our legal counsel is reviewing Ms. Mosby’s latest missive,” Mayor Michael Chidester, who is also an attorney, said in an email. “I have nothing to add at this time.”

The city fired Mosby on June 4, 2019 citing failing job performance, but her attorney charged that the action was discriminatory based on her gender identity.

Mosby, who was assigned male at birth, identifies as a female. She alleged in the lawsuit that she was fired because of “her sex, gender identity, and notions of sex stereotyping.”

The lawsuit, filed in late April, seeks a jury trial. Allegations leveled in the lawsuit were also raised in Mosby’s Equal Opportunity Employment Commission complaint. The EEOC took no action on the complaint and gave her the OK to file a lawsuit.

In late June, attorneys for the city filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, claiming many of Mosby’s allegations “mischaracterize key facts or are outright falsehoods.”

Barton has until mid-August to file a response.

“We are working on our response to the motion to dismiss and feel confident in our arguments and that we will overcome the motion to dismiss,” Barton said in the email. “Since we have to get through several opportunities for motions and months of discovery, there will not be a trial for some time.”