A.G. Gancarski
With a week to go until Election Day, Jacksonville At Large City Council Group 5 candidate Ju’Coby Pittman faces a complication outside of the realm of electoral politics. The Clara White Mission, where Pittman has been CEO for decades, faces a lawsuit predicated on a claim of discrimination by a former employee, Rhonda Baker-Stansberry.
The lawsuit claims damages in excess of $350,000, and covers the plaintiff’s period of employment from 2009 to 2012 as the mission’s life skills and housing coordinator. The discrimination, which the suit contends is because the plaintiff is black, started in March 2012.
The plaintiff contends Baker-Stansberry was passed up for promotion and suffered retaliation thereafter. She filed a discrimination claim with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in November 2012, when she was already on employment-related probation. She was terminated the next month and says she was terminated for filing the claim. She also contends she was harassed, paid lower wages, denied chances for promotion, and placed on probation because she was black. Furthermore, she says Pittman offered her no recourse when she did complain, circumventing “appropriate staff grievance procedures.”
Baker-Stansberry contends most of the harassment came from Kevin Carrico, who she says she had a series of conflicts with, which led to a “consistent and ongoing pattern of harassment,” including him yelling at and threatening her, despite her not being his direct employee. The suit states Carrico also got a class of hers to write “unscheduled student surveys” to get “negative feedback from disgruntled students.”
Beyond the accusations of harassment and unlawful termination, Baker-Stansberry says she was paid a salary below that budgeted for her position, and was locked into her position and salary range while white employees were given opportunities to advance to “primarily supervisory positions and done so without notice.”
She also contends that a secondary reason given by Pittman for her termination was her prohibited operation of another nonprofit while employed with the defendant. She contends Pittman was aware of the situation when she was hired, and that she decided to take no action until 2012, when the relationship went south.
While the Clara White Mission contends Baker-Stansberry had a conflict of interest, she says other mission employees have similar arrangements. Moreover, she reports executive level conflicts of interest, including Pittman renting a house to the mission for use as an “independent living facility.”
Pittman is involved in a three-way race in Group 5. All indications are that she will emerge from the March 24 election to face Michelle Tappouni in the runoff. It remains to be seen whether lawsuit will affect Pittman’s chances.
