Former DMV worker files suit

A former examiner for the state Division of Motor Vehicles claims in a lawsuit filed Tuesday in Wake Superior Court that he was fired for raising concerns about driver's licenses being issued to people who may be in the U.S. illegally, or whose driving privileges would continue long after their visas expire.

Jeffrey M. Brown, 34, of Jones County, worked for the DMV's New Bern office from July 2006 until early April when he said the division made up reasons to fire him. He was paid an annual salary of $32,283.

Marge Howell, a DMV spokeswoman, said the division had not seen the lawsuit and could not comment.

According to the lawsuit, DMV officials said Brown was fired over three issues: He had unnecessarily detained a customer over concerns the man may have been in the United States illegally; he had become "loud and argumentative" when his request to leave early one day a week to coach his daughter's soccer team was turned down; and he had made inappropriate comments about someone of Middle Eastern descent.

Brown could not be reached for comment. His attorney, Michael Byrne of Raleigh, said Brown should be praised for his efforts to make sure that driver's licenses do not go to illegal immigrants or that people in the United States on visas do not get licenses that last beyond their sanctioned stays.

Brown is filing suit under the state's whistle-blower act, which prevents state employees from being fired for reporting wrongdoing on the job.

Brown said in the lawsuit that he repeatedly told supervisors he was issuing driver's licenses to illegal immigrants or suspected illegal immigrants. He also told them he was issuing standard eight-year driver's licenses to people with visas that expired in as little as six months. State law allows neither.

Brown said DMV officials began seeking to fire him after a TV station in Greenville, WNCT, broadcast a report in March about the DMV issuing licenses to illegal immigrants. Brown said he was not a source for the story.

The following month, DMV officials fired Brown. He said the grounds for firing were either incorrect or false. He said the DMV falsely said he failed to follow the chain of command in detaining the man. He said that other employees have received permission to leave early for family concerns, and that he never claimed that all Muslims are terrorists or that "someday we would all be sorry for being so stupid to let all these people have free run of this country."

Brown seeks his job back, back wages and benefits, his attorney's fees and punitive damages.