The U.S. Department of Justice has reached a settlement with Brevard County in a racial discrimination case involving a former Office of Tourism employee.
The county has agreed to pay the former employee, Deidre Jackson, $150,000 after she was terminated from the county’s Space Coast Office of Tourism in 2015. Jackson is to receive $100,000 in back pay and $50,000 in compensatory damages, according to the settlement.
The settlement, filed Tuesday, stems from a complaint Jackson filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in November 2015, alleging that she was fired from her position as the tourism office’s communications specialist because she is Black.
EEOC officials found reasonable cause to believe that Jackson was unlawfully fired under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The Tampa Field Office — which is part of the Miami District Office of the EEOC — investigated and attempted to resolve Jackson’s charge of discrimination before referring it to the Department of Justice as an enforcement action.
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Brevard County Communications Director Don Walker said the county would have no comment on the lawsuit or the settlement.
Under the settlement, the county denied that it discriminated against Jackson, but nevertheless chose to settle the case.
Jackson worked at the Space Coast Office of Tourism from March 2007 through May 2015. The lawsuit states that Jackson had an impeccable work record with positive performance evaluations. In Jackson's final performance review — covering Oct. 1, 2013, through Sept. 30, 2014 — supervisors rated her work as exceptional, the highest rating in the office.
Jackson was never disciplined, according to the complaint.
In November 2014, Eric Garvey was hired to be the director of the tourism office. The lawsuit states the office had about 13 employees, most of whom were white, including Garvey.
The complaint indicates that the only employees who differed ethnically were Jackson and an Asian American woman, Kalina Subido-Person.
Garvey fired Jackson around the end of April 2015. Garvey said Jackson did not fit his vision of what the office should look like, saying there was no longer a place for her, according to the suit. When asked if anything was wrong with her performance, Garvey said no, the suit states.
Court records state that, while Jackson worked under Garvey, he did not document any performance or conduct problems, nor did he ever express concerns about her work.
According to the complaint, before terminating her employment, Garvey met with Jackson only twice in his office — once to introduce himself, the other for a brief chat regarding job duties.
Court documents said Garvey never notified Jackson of any reason for her firing in a letter or other formal outlet.
In announcing the settlement, Maria Chapa Lopez, U.S. attorney for the Middle District of Florida, said: "Racial discrimination, in the workplace or elsewhere, is unacceptable and undermines the very tenets and ideals of a civilized, modern society. Our nation’s greatest achievements have been because of our diversity, not in spite of it."
The lawsuit indicated that the same day Garvey fired Jackson, he met with Subido-Person, a 25-year employee with the office with a record of positive evaluations. Garvey told her if she did not resign she would be fired.
Subido-Person subsequently resigned, and in 2019 filed her own civil suit in state court, alleging racial discrimination.
In Garvey’s tenure as director of the tourism office, Jackson and Subido-Person were the only employees who were ever fired. Once they left, the office had only white employees.
Garvey eventually hired two white women to replace Jackson in the office and perform her duties, according to the lawsuit.
Court documents note that, since Jackson and Subido-Person were terminated, the county has hired only white individuals to work in the tourism office.
Garvey left his county position on July 31, 2018. Garvey moved to a private-sector job as chief operating officer of the Baugher Hotel Group, a hospitality and real estate development firm founded and operated by Bob Baugher of Cocoa Beach, a member of the Brevard County Tourist Development Council.
As part of the settlement, offices with Brevard County must now provide live mandatory training to all supervisors and managers on provisions of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, including training on prohibition of race discrimination and on the county’s non-retaliation policies.
The county has 90 days to provide a description of the proposed training and materials to the EEOC. It also must subsequently provide confirmation the training has been completed.
Moving forward, all new supervisors and managers will be required to receive this training.
As for Jackson, the county will be required to provide a neutral recommendation if tapped as a reference and refrain from referencing her termination. In her personnel file, the county must indicate that Jackson was "not terminated for cause," and left her employment with the county "in good standing and is eligible for rehire."
Eric Dreiband, assistant attorney general for the Civil Rights Division, said this settlement "reinforces our continuing commitment to eradicate the scourge of racial discrimination in the government."
Dave Berman of FLORIDA TODAY contributed to this report.
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