Midlands county reaches a settlement with a former clerk who sued after she was fired
Lexington County has voted to reach a settlement with a former clerk to the county council who sued after she was fired last year.
County council members voted Tuesday to approve a settlement with Brittany Shumpert, who was the council’s clerk managing its administrative business for three years, until she was fired in a public council vote in April 2023.
Shumpert filed suit against Lexington County earlier this year claiming she was wrongfully terminated for two reasons; that she was fired because of a disability and that the vote to fire her violated the S.C. Freedom of Information Act.
In her suit, Shumpert claims she was pressured to resign ahead of her firing and told by the county’s human resources director that she would by fired by a “unanimous” vote if she refused. Shumpert took this to mean that a secret poll of council members had been taken prior to the council’s public vote, in violation of South Carolina law requiring decisions to be made in an open meeting.
The former clerk also said she was questioned about her use of sick leave when she took time off to have two medical procedures in March. She said she was questioned about the sick leave while she “had a large bandage on the right side of her face, clearly from a medical procedure,” during a meeting she was called into at 5 p.m. and didn’t leave until 9:41 p.m.
The lawsuit claims Shumpert had “no issues with her employment” until a disagreement with the county’s economic development director over the reservation of a conference room, after which the lawsuit claims Council Chairwoman Beth Carrigg “blamed the entire incident on Plaintiff, yelled at her in front of coworkers, and questioned her job performance.”
According to the lawsuit’s timeline, the meeting with Carrigg occurred a week before Shumpert was questioned about her medical procedure, an “employment item” was added to the council’s next meeting agenda and Shumpert was told by human resources she would be placed on leave for “insubordination.”
Details of the proposed settlement in the lawsuit were not immediately available. Carrigg, the council charwoman, told The State the settlement would be covered by a non-disclosure agreement. The lawsuit was filed on Shumpert’s behalf by attorneys Paul Porter and Elizabeth Millender of the firm Cromer Babb and Porter. Attempts to reach Shumpert’s attorneys for comment were not immediately successful.
This story was originally published December 11, 2024 at 12:49 PM.
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