Durham County health director accused of sexual harassment in former workplace
.jpeg "A former employee of the current Durham County public health director claims in a lawsuit that he sexually harassed her when they both worked for Cumberland County.")
A woman has filed a lawsuit accusing a Durham County official of sexual harassment and retaliation when she worked for him in Cumberland County.
Marlene Harris alleges Rodney Jenkins made unwanted advances while he was her supervisor and the deputy director at the Cumberland County Department of Public Health. Jenkins is now the Durham County public health director.
“He’s been promoted to a position with executive leadership and little oversight, and is now able to be as unethical and inappropriate as he was with me,” Harris told The News and Observer in an interview Monday.
Harris filed the lawsuit against Cumberland County in May 2021, after filing complaints with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in 2017 and 2018. The two parties are scheduled to go to mediation next month and, if they cannot resolve the case, they will go to trial in April, Harris said.
Deborah Craig-Ray, general manager for Durham County’s Office of Strategic Management and Innovation, Public Affairs and Special Projects, said neither the county nor Jenkins had any comment on the lawsuit.
The N&O has also contacted Cumberland County for comment on the lawsuit and allegations but has not yet received a response.
Alleged personal questions, gifts
Jenkins was hired as Durham County’s health director in January 2020, after working for the Cumberland County Department of Public Health for eight years.
Cumberland County hired Harris in November 2015. After a promotion in May 2016, she began reporting to Jenkins.
According to the lawsuit “Jenkins started asking the victim personal questions, continually bought the victim gifts and sent her a photograph of himself shirtless.”
Harris said in the interview with the N&O that she felt uncomfortable and believed Jenkins wanted to have a romantic and/or sexual relationship. When she first reported it in February 2017 to Buck Wilson, Cumberland County’s then public health director, she offered to show him texts, emails and any gifts, she said.
Filing a lawsuit
To file a lawsuit under federal law alleging discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, or retaliation, a charge, or complaint, must first be filed with the EEOC. Harris did that in August 2017.
Soon afterward, Harris’s job responsibilities were reduced, her office location moved, her compensatory time was challenged and she suffered a loss of status among her colleagues, according to the lawsuit.
In January 2018, Harris filed a second federal charge, this time alleging retaliation. The EEOC issued a “right to sue” letter, which led to the lawsuit.
Although the EEOC letter came in February 2020, Harris’ legal team said, the pandemic caused them to “voluntarily dismiss the complaint without prejudice” on May 18, 2020. State law allows a one-year delay in such cases, and the lawsuit was refiled May 10, 2021.
“This is a matter of public interest because the same culture still exists at the department and possibly others across the state,” Harris said in an emailed statement. “I’m speaking up because I don’t want my situation to happen to anyone else.”
Harris is seeking damages in excess of at least $25,000m the lawsuit states.
“We haven’t given the other side a number, and I think it’s too early for us to make proposal to them,” said Charles “Chuck” Monteith, Harris’s lawyer.
“But money doesn’t mean that much to Marlene in this case,” he said. “This about calling attention to what was not done properly so that this doesn’t happen to someone else.”
Currently, both parties are in the pre-trial process of exchanging information about evidence and witnesses that could be presented in court.
“Right now, we are still in the discovery phase ... and we are in the process of scheduling about two or three depositions,” said Monteith. “And if the case settles at mediation — that’s it — we’ll agree to the settlement and go on our way. If not, we’ll go to trial.”
This story was originally published February 2, 2022 at 10:19 AM.