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Thursday, February 14, 2008

Darron Perry Now Has Two Complaints Against County


By Sid Riley

Roads and Bridges Employee Complains About Harassment From Fellow Employees

Darron Perry appeared before the Jackson County Commission at their Tuesday, February 12, 2008 meeting to bring forward a second complaint to the forum related to work place harassment from other county employees. The issues began when fellow equipment operator Johnny Woods allegedly referred to the Martin Luther King holiday in a manner that was verbally abusive in the presence of Darron Perry. Perry entered a formal complaint against Woods for his statement.
The matter was forwarded to County Administrator, Ted Lakey who conducted an investigation and determined that Woods did make the statement in the presence of Perry and other witnesses. As a result, Woods was given a two day suspension without pay, and the incident was entered into his personnel record. Perry was not satisfied with this action and pushed to have Woods fired.
Then, on subsequent work days, Perry claims he was subjected to further threats and harassing statements by fellow workers as a result of his action taken in the first incident. This subsequent harassment caused him to request a hearing before the board at the Tuesday meeting.
After Perry presented the harassment charge to the board, Chairman Lockey assured Perry the board did not condone harassment in any form, and that if the charge was verified, appropriate action would be taken. However, since neither Mrs. Lennetta Greene, Director of Human Resources, or Administrator Ted Lakey were in attendance, and no prior investigation related to this second charge had yet been conducted, the board could take no action at this meeting. Lockey assured Perry an investigation would be conducted and he would be informed as to the findings and action taken. Perry agreed to this course of action.

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