Report: Rockville Sued For Racial Discrimination

Two racial discrimination lawsuits were recently filed against the City of Rockville, amidst demands for the city to make public a private firm’s report on city employees’ claims of discrimination and harassment.

A current and a former city employee are suing the city, The Gazette reported Monday. Both lawsuits claim the plaintiffs were discriminated against because they were black.

Public works employee Donald Dorsey claims his white supervisors retaliated against him after he complained about a supervisor displaying the Confederate flag on his phone, clothes and work vehicle's dashboard, The Gazette reported, citing court records. Dorsey also claims his work truck was vandalized because he complained about racism, The Gazette reported.

Dorsey filed the lawsuit March 5. A scheduling hearing is set for Friday, according to court records accessed online.

In the other case, Courtney L. Morgan, the former division chief of the city's inspection services, claims his white subordinates were paid more and claims he was fired because he was black, The Gazette reported.

A July 7 hearing is scheduled in that case.

The full story is posted at Gazette.net.

In May 2012, the city hired the law firm Saul Ewing LLP to probe former city employees’ claims of harassment and discrimination by supervisors, as addressed in a series of articles published in The Sentinel. The city paid the law firm $190,000.

Morgan called the report a “sham,” The Gazette reported, citing court records.

In November, the city released the findings of the report—which determined there was “no unlawful conduct”—but said it couldn’t make the full report public because it was confidential.

Former Rockville mayor Steve VanGrack and Andrea Bernardo, campaign manager for former city Councilwoman Anne Robbins, recently argued that the Rockville City Council should have access to the report, The Sentinel reported.

The Sentinel and The Gazette have asked the city to make the information public under the Maryland Public Information Act.