Employment Law

• Date: 01 April 2015
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/nba.30063
• Published date: 01 April 2015

10

APRIL 2015

NONPROFIT BUSINESS ADVISOR

© 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc., A Wiley Company v All rights reserved

DOI: 10.1002/nba

Employment Law

Here’s a look at several recent notable lawsuits involving nonprots. Nonprots should regularly review

employment laws and their compliance efforts to avert similar issues.

Discrimination

Workplace conduct justies termination

Living Classrooms Foundation Inc. was a nonprof-

it educational organization that promoted “hands-on

learning” for Maryland young people.

In April 2011, LCF hired Phyllis Echols—a black

woman—as a staff accountant. On her rst day at

work, Cindy Wadalavage—the grant accountant—

told Echols that she had not known that black ac-

countants existed.

For the rst three months of her employment, only

the controller would speak to Echols.

In August, Julie Bolster, the payroll specialist,

yelled at Echols for changing the payroll password

while Bolster was on vacation from “SadieCatlO”

to “lovelGOD.” When the two argued, both Bolster

and Wadalavage allegedly told Echols to shut up.

The chief nancial ofcer had to intervene to end

the argument.

In October 2011, when Echols asked a co-worker

for certain bank entries, Wadalavage interrupted to

ask why she had asked for those materials. Echols

told Wadalavage to attend to the affairs of her desk.

Soon afterwards, Wadalavage slammed a stack of

folders onto her desk.

The next day, Echols and Wadalavage argued

because Echols had performed corrected computer

entries while Wadalavage was entering other infor-

mation into the system. Wadalavage allegedly yelled

at Echols to shut up, and Echols responded that

she was not anyone’s child. Bolster and Wadalavage

again allegedly told Echols to shut up. Later that

day, Wadalavage allegedly told her “your black ass

is out of here.”

During her tenure, Echols was allowed to listen

to religious sermons on headphones but would oc-

casionally shout out phrases such as “Burn in hell!”

In March 2012, she was twice admonished for

speaking such words as “Amen, God, Jesus or Lord”

while at work.

On March 23, Echols arrived late to a staff meet-

ing, and without having read an email about its pur-

pose. During the discussion, she accused Wadalavage

of lying.

About a week later, a supervisor asked Echols

to check certain depreciation expenses. Instead of

completing the request, she informed him that the

information was readily available in an audit le and

went to lunch.

Later that afternoon, some co-workers com-

plained to the same supervisor that Echols mumbled

“Shoo!” and “Jesus” while recording data entries. He

then sent an email to the entire accounting depart-

ment about workplace conduct and asked employees

to acknowledge its receipt. Every employee except

Echols did so.

On March 30, Echols was red for the stated rea-

sons of causing problems in the department and not

getting along with co-workers.

Echols sued LCF, claiming discrimination on the

basis of her race and religion.

It responded with a motion for summary judgment.

EMPLOYER WINS ➔ Even though some of her

past performance reviews had been favorable, District

Judge William Quarles ruled that Echols had failed

to demonstrate that she was meeting expectations

because of her bad conduct. He also said she had not

rebutted the stated reasons for ring her.

Judge Quarles granted summary judgment in favor

of LCF.

[Echols v. Living Classrooms Foundation Inc., U.S.

District Court for the District of Maryland, No.

WDQ-13-3156 (12/02/2014)].

Discrimination

Lack of evidence stymies former

employee’s suit

In 2010, Elvis Grubbs—a man over 40 with Native

American ancestry—began working for the Salva-

tion Army as a thrift store clerk. His responsibilities

included cleaning shelves, stocking merchandise and

fullling other duties as assigned by his supervisors.

In June 2011, a supervisor issued him a warning

for absenteeism.

Grubbs received a second warning a month later for

substandard work efforts, and a failure to carry out

assigned tasks in a timely manner. He had allegedly

failed to stock all of the items in his baskets, and they

were still there when he returned the following day.

Grubbs acknowledged that when he failed to stock