By Shavonne Potts
spotts@salisburypost.com
SALISBURY ó The Rowan County Housing Authority denies discrimination claims made against it in a lawsuit filed by three former employees.
Alma J. Bostian and Barbara Walser, who are white, and Carleen White, who is black, filed the suit in U.S. District Court in Greensboro. The three allege that after they reported what they believed to be racial discrimination, they were denied employment rights and contract rights.
The women claim they observed discriminating treatment and heard racist remarks in the workplace directed at minority employees and tenants.
Although Housing Authority Executive Director Sara Potts is not named as a defendant, the lawsuit alleges she made derogatory statements about employees and black tenants. Potts referred questions from the Post to attorneys Patrick Flanagan and Janelle Lyons of the Charlotte firm Cranfill Sumner & Hartzog.
Lyons said her firm does not discuss pending lawsuits.
The women were fired in June 2009 and told it was for ěviolating confidentiality rules.î
The Housing Authority filed a response to the womenís complaints saying it did not deny them any employment opportunities or retaliate against them for engaging in protected activity.
The protected activity refers to a claim that Bostian, Walser and White breached computer security and violated the Housing Authorityís confidentiality policy ěconnected to their use of their workstations and the Rowan County Housing Authority file server.î
All three women were terminated July 13, 2009, the suit says.
The authorityís board of directors became aware of the issues and requested written information from employees about the allegations as part of an internal investigation, the lawsuit says.
The women were asked to provide this information in June 2009. A month later, all were fired.
The information, the women said, was on how Potts hired a replacement for a fired white employee who was married to a black man.
According to the suit, the women who made statements during the investigation said Potts made references ěto the familyís mixed childrenî and said ěthat she could not see how a white woman could have children with an African-American male.î
The Housing Authority also denies the women made any complaints to the board alleging discrimination on the part of ěany Rowan County Housing Authority employees directed towards any employees based upon race, gender, sex or disability.î
The former Housing Authority employees filed a complaint with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The agency ruled in December they had grounds for a lawsuit.
Repeated attempts to contact the womenís attorney, Romallus Murphy of Greensboro, were unsuccessful.
The next step in the case is a pretrial conference to address future scheduling.
Contact reporter Shavonne Potts at 704-797-4253.