A longtime Fort Pierce city employee is demanding $200,000 plus legal fees, a public apology, the potential termination of the city attorney and more in a pre-lawsuit letter obtained by TCPalm via a public records request.
Attorneys for the city’s finance director and CFO, Johnna Morris, sent a notice of intent April 28 to City Manager Richard Chess and Mayor Linda Hudson.
A notice of intent is a prerequisite to filing a lawsuit that is required by Florida law. It is intended to give the potential parties of a lawsuit an opportunity to reach a settlement before any legal action is officially taken. The letter from Morris’ attorneys — MDM Legal of West Palm Beach — asked for the city to respond by May 4, though the law gives them up to 20 days to issue a formal response.
Neither a city spokesperson nor Chess responded to a request for comment as to whether a response has been sent.
The letter lays out a number of allegations against the city, and particularly singles out City Attorney Sara Hedges as having committed “unlawful conduct.”
Morris was placed on paid administrative leave “without any written notice, stated basis or due process,” according to the letter. It also alleges that Morris’ “private financial information was deliberately disclosed to city commissioners, by the city attorney” and later stated in public forums and published by the news media.
“These actions have caused significant reputational harm to Ms. Morris through public commission meetings and news coverage,” the letter reads.
Specifically, the letter claims that on April 8, while Morris was out of the office at a work conference, the city received notice of a wage garnishment against Morris related to a “personal debt.”
The letter does not go into details on that personal debt, but court records indicate a final judgment against Morris was obtained by JP Morgan Chase Bank on Jan. 8 for a total of $14,343.61. Morris, who is paid $180,000 annually, was to have $1,321.19 garnished from her total earnings of $6,870.44 each pay period, according to court records related to the final judgment.
The letter goes on to claim that, despite the “longstanding practice” of the city handling wage garnishments “discreetly through payroll without intentional public disclosure,” in this case “City Attorney Hedges took the extraordinary step of intercepting Ms. Morris’ garnishment and launching an invasive and unprecedented response.”
Hedges, according to the letter, researched past debts that Morris had paid off, and then called each of the city commissioners to inform them of the present garnishment and the past debts. During those calls, the letter alleges, Hedges “recommended Ms. Morris’ immediate termination and recommended that the city conduct a forensic audit of Ms. Morris.”
As would be later discussed by city commissioners at an April 20 meeting, it is illegal to “discharge” an employee merely because their earnings have been subjected to garnishment for a single debt, according to the federal Consumer Credit Protection Act, which is a law that protects workers who are indebted. The consequences of breaking that law could be a fine up to $1,000 and one year in prison.
Morris, ultimately, was not terminated.
On April 13, Chess and Human Resources Manager Jared Sorensen informed Morris that she would be placed on paid administrative leave pending an investigation, according to the letter.
“She was given no stated reason or basis for the investigation. She was afforded no opportunity to respond to any allegations. She received no explanation of her rights or the process that would follow. Despite her 18 years of loyal service to the City, Ms. Morris was escorted to her office to collect her belongings and was walked out of the building in a humiliating manner, as if she committed an egregious act,” according to the letter.
The letter notes that Morris had never previously been disciplined in her 18 years working for the city.
Two days after the meeting, Sorensen told Morris to come back to work on April 16, according to the letter.
Then, at the April 20 City Commission meeting, the situation was widely discussed in public, and was later covered by media outlets and discussed widely on social media, all of which has unfairly harmed Morris’ reputation and wellbeing, the letter states.
“She has suffered severe humiliation, emotional distress, and reputational harm as a direct result of having a private financial matter deliberately made public by City Attorney Hedges through conduct that far exceeded any arguable official duty,” according to the letter.
The letter goes on to allege violation of procedural due process rights, deprivation of liberty interest through stigmatizing statements, invasion of constitutional property rights, public disclosure of private facts and violation of federal garnishment protections.
In order to resolve the issue before a lawsuit is filed, Morris and her attorneys demand $200,000 “for emotional distress, humiliation, reputational harm, and mental anguish.” Demands also include reimbursement of all relevant attorneys’ fees and costs, a public apology to be read at a City Commission meeting and published by the news media, disciplinary action against Hedges “up to and including termination,” Hedges’ recusal from any role in the matter’s resolution, removal of record of the administrative leave from Morris’ personnel file, a written non-retaliation and non-disparagement agreement and “restoration of the city’s prior practice of routing garnishments to payroll for confidential processing.”
Even before its contents were publicly known, the letter made an impact on the City Commission.
Commissioners had intended to discuss the roles of the city manager and city attorney at their May 4 meeting, after the April 20 meeting included a dispute over whether Hedges had prevented Chess from consulting outside legal counsel on the topic of discipline against Morris.
Citing receipt of the letter from Morris’ attorneys, that discussion was removed from the May 4 agenda at the start of the meeting, under a 4-1 vote. Chris Dzadovsky was the lone commissioner to vote against the motion, stating that he believed a discussion could be held without delving into the details of the letter or any allegations from Morris.
Wicker Perlis is TCPalm’s Watchdog Reporter for St. Lucie County. You can reach him at Wicker.Perlis@TCPalm.com.
This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Fort Pierce CFO demands $200,000, city attorney’s firing in letter
Reporting by Wicker Perlis, Treasure Coast Newspapers / Treasure Coast Newspapers
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