Former employee sues West Memphis mayor
Lawsuit alleges McClendon engaged in racial discrimination
By DON WILBURN
news@theeveningtimes.com
West Memphis Mayor Marco McClendon is being sued by former city engineer Amanda Hicks in a million-dollar discrimination lawsuit after she says she was told to “hire only Black people.”
Hicks’ lawyers say Mc-Clendon’s acts and omissions caused Hicks to suffer mental and emotional distress, lost earning capacity and fringe bene_ts, and incurred other damages.
The suit _led last week by Hicks’ attorneys, Luther Sutter and Lucian Gillham, in the Eastern District of the Arkansas U.S. District Court in Jonesboro, added that Hicks also refused to misappropriate money for the MATA transportation projects in the city and Mc-Clendon threatened to _re her unless she agreed to violate said laws. When she refused Hicks claimed that McClendon often mistreated her and that her work environment became hostile, further violating state and federal constitutional rights.
“Mayor McClendon subjected the Plaintiff to mental and emotional abuse, on an almost daily basis, but certainly on a weekly basis,” the attorneys said. “Defendants terminated Plaintiff in violation of the Arkansas Whistleblower Protection Act and in violation of the well-established Public Policy for the state of Arkansas.”
In a statement the Mayor said “I haven’t had a chance to get into this too
See LAWSUIT, page A7
HICKS LAWSUIT
From page A1
deeply, but I will. As you know, early voting is going on and we are just days until the election, which is really what this baseless lawsuit is about. I’ve been busy fulfilling my duties as mayor, and every chance I get, greeting our neighbors at the early voting site, which is just minutes away from city hall. I’m sure in the days to come. You will find out the true motive behind this baseless lawsuit which is purely my opponents using this individual in their desperate political attack scheme by using the courts in such a frivolous and reckless manner. This is just a last-ditch effort by my opponents to sway voters at the eleventh hour because they have no vision for where they want to take the city of West Memphis.”
Although the lawsuit claims that Hicks’ was terminated in September a resignation letter provided by the City, written by Hicks, shows that she gave notice in August that she had accepted another job in Mississippi and thanked the Mayor for the opportunity to work for him.
Sources within the city were also quick to point out that Arkansas is a “right to work” state in which employees can be fired and hired at will and also provided a department head list of city employees which showed that 12 of the 24 principal positions were occupied by white people. It is also of note that the man chosen to replace Hicks as city engineer last month, Phillip Sorrell, is also white.
