The District Court of Appeal for Florida’s Fifth District sided with Orange County and reversed a $36,663 judgment for a former firefighter who claimed discrimination.
Stacy McLean sued the county for retaliation after experiencing what he said was an adverse impact when he was reinstated to the fire department after settling a discrimination lawsuit with the county.
“We agree with the county that the trial court erred in failing to grant two of its separate motions for directed verdict,” wrote Judge Brian D. Lambert.
The appeals court also backed the county’s argument that McLean didn’t prove he actually filed a complaint with the Florida Commission on Human Relations or the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. McLean himself said he didn’t issue the administrative complaint before filing a lawsuit. Since he didn’t exhaust his administrative remedies, the appeals court pointed out the lower court should have granted the motion in favor of the county.
The county was also able to prove that it rightfully forced McLean into retirement when he didn’t reimburse his account after being reinstated. McLean’s responsibility was to prove that the county’s reasons for doing so were false, and that it really wanted to retaliate and/or discriminate against him.
The appeals court pointed out that McLean knew about the policy that called for him to retire if he didn’t reimburse his retirement fund.
As for his claims that he wasn’t reinstated back to his initial department, a minimum of three county workers testified that there were no vacancies at the time.
McLean’s discrimination claims against the county initially began after he and two other African-American men were the only employees out of 56 who were fired following an investigation of workers allegedly misreporting the hours of numbers they worked.
He sued for discrimination under the Florida Civil Rights Act in 2015. The following year, he and the county reached a settlement agreement, and McLean returned to the department. Still, he accused the county of retaliating against him because of his FCRA lawsuit when he returned to work. He alleged that the county didn’t reinstate him to the Training Division, and that it forced him to retire and wouldn’t pay him extra money to help him reimburse his retirement fund.
Judges Jay P. Cohen and James A. Edwards concurred.