Human rights director sues city, alleging discrimination

By P.J. LASSEK World Staff Writer

The director of Tulsa's Human Rights Department is suing the city, alleging that she was discriminated against during a disciplinary action because of her race and gender.

Lana Turner-Addison, who also is a Tulsa Public Schools board member, filed the complaint last week in U.S. District Court.

The suit claims that she was wrongly disciplined in response to her filing a civil service grievance against City Manager Jim Twombly.

Turner-Addison was assigned by Twombly to assemble and compile the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development five-year consolidated plan and one-year action plan related to Community Development Block Grants.

HUD refused to approve the plans, stating that they were "substantially incomplete and containing numerous errors and inaccuracies."

The lawsuit states that Turner-Addison had a meeting with Twombly regarding the shortcomings and alleges that Twombly made it clear that all the blame for the plan would be on her.

Turner-Addison claims that during the meeting she felt that she was discriminated against because of her race and gender.

At a February pre-action hearing on the discipline, Fire Chief Allen LaCroix, the hearing officer, concluded that Turner-Addison should serve five days without pay, as Twombly requested, the suit states.

A few months before the pre-action hearing, Turner-Addison filed a grievance with the Civil Service Commission against Twombly in which she stated that he had created a hostile work environment.

The same day that Human Resources Director Erica Felix-Warwick delivered her findings on the civil service complaint to Turner-Addison, Twombly delivered the written reprimand, the suit states.

The Civil Service Commission held a hearing in March and ruled against Turner-Addison, stating that she failed to prove that she was a victim of racial discrimination in a hostile work environment.


(2011-10-5/TulsaWorld)