The Baldwin County Commission has rejected a proposed $285,000 settlement in a lawsuit brought by a former county employee who claims he was unlawfully fired and denied any opportunity to appeal.
The decision, reached after a closed-door executive session that lasted more than half an hour, sends the civil case back to a Baldwin County circuit judge for further consideration. No new hearing date has been set.
The former employee’s lawsuit, originally filed in May 2013, alleges he was terminated in 2012 and that his request for an appeal was denied by county officials, including the former county administrator and the personnel director. According to court documents, the suit claims he was targeted for termination by certain commissioners before losing his job.
The filing also contains a striking allegation: that the former administrator threatened the employee with the loss of his own job unless he could find a way to terminate another worker the administrator was reportedly reluctant to fire because of that worker’s relationship with a commissioner.
“It’s in the judge’s hands,” the commission president said following the vote.
The rejection comes about a month after commissioners approved a separate $150,000 settlement to close out a 2012 wrongful-termination lawsuit filed by a former building department supervisor. Both plaintiffs are represented by the same Foley-based attorney. The earlier case involved a supervisor who had worked for the county from 1997 to 2011 and who accused officials of firing him without sufficient grounds and in violation of the employee handbook.
County officials have sought to separate the litigation from a recent leadership shake-up. The county attorney said the settled case involving the building supervisor was unrelated to the commission’s decision last month not to renew the contract of the county administrator, who had held the top administrative post since 2010. The attorney also acknowledged that additional wrongful-termination claims against the county remained pending.
The string of employment disputes has put a spotlight on how the county handles personnel matters and terminations, an issue that has generated both legal exposure and public scrutiny in Bay Minette. With the largest settlement now off the table, the outcome of the remaining case rests with the court.