TALLAHASSEE -- A woman is suing her former employer for gender discrimination, whistleblower retaliation and wrongful termination.
Deonna L. Edwards filed a complaint on June 4 in Leon County Circuit Court against the Florida Department of Corrections for public whistleblower retaliation, gender discrimination, race discrimination and retaliation.
According to the complaint, Edwards held the position of sergeant from December 2019 until she was terminated on June 2, 2020. During her employment, Edwards alleges to have suffered incidents of misfeasance and gross misconduct from other co-workers, even to the point that others fabricated information regarding an investigation in which Edwards participated.
Edwards claims that she was called a "short fat sergeant" in the anonymous report. Edwards alleges that she filed a report about the false report and nothing happened. When she obtained a confidential copy of the complaint, she was then brought into the office and asked how she obtained it, the suit says. When refusing to tell how, she was terminated, the suit says.
Edwards seeks compensatory damages, lost wages, economic damages, attorney's fees and cost of suit. Edwards is represented by Marie A. Mattox, P.A.