A Black woman who was fired from her job as a city clerk in Haines City, Florida, will get $550,000 to settle her federal lawsuit against the city and its mayor for alleged racial discrimination, defamation, harassment and retaliation.
Erica Anderson was hired as a deputy clerk by Haines City in 2017 and then promoted to city clerk in 2020.
According to her lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Tampa, Florida (and obtained by Atlanta Black Star), then-mayor Anne Huffman, who is also Black, bullied Anderson with harassing and derogatory comments, including telling her that she should stop wearing her hair in “Aunt Jemima Braids” and repeatedly referring to her as “unbecoming.”
Anderson has a disabling skin and hair condition, the complaint says, and the mayor taunted her about her missing eyebrows and demanded she wear makeup to cover up her skin.
Huffman also told Anderson that she did not act “Black enough” or talk Black enough, and as a result, “would not be accepted by certain city neighborhoods,” the lawsuit says.
In 2021, Anderson claims she reported to the five-member city commission that a male vendor was sexually harassing her and making her feel uncomfortable. In response, instead of taking remedial action to stop the harassment, Huffman allegedly warned her, “Are you sure this is what you want to do to another Black man?”
In the spring of 2022, the complaint says Huffman targeted Anderson regarding her use of city credit cards, indicating that she had misused them. Haines City later cleared Anderson of any wrongdoing related to credit cards, but Huffman continued to harass and call her out at public meetings, to embarrass her, the lawsuit says.
On May 31, 2022, Anderson made a complaint to the city under the Florida Whistleblower’s Act alleging harassing, inappropriate, and discriminatory conduct by Huffman. In it, she detailed a hostile work environment, bullying, and psychological harassment that had caused her severe stress and anxiety and led her to seek medical care.
Huffman immediately retaliated, the complaint says, by threatening her reputation and credibility before the city commission and the public.
Two days later, after she filed her complaint, on June 2, 2022, Anderson’s then-fiancé, Barry Gaston, asked Huffman during a commission meeting how it was that she could serve in public office if she was a convicted felon. (Huffman “was arrested and prosecuted for felony grand theft and entered into a pre-trial diversion program,” Anderson claimed in a court filing in January). Huffman told Gaston to ask about “something relevant,” and when he persisted to ask about her criminal record, she kicked him out of the meeting.
Huffman then said, “As a point of clarification … and just for those of you who are not aware, that’s our City Clerk Erica Anderson’s other boyfriend.”
The complaint contends the mayor was “insinuating that Anderson was promiscuous,” and that her comments were defamatory and intentionally made to cause her humiliation and harm to her reputation.
Anderson, who is now married to Gaston, insists in her complaint that she never had two boyfriends or ever discussed her personal life with Huffman, and says she was deeply embarrassed and left the public meeting in tears.
She continued to be upset at work over the next two weeks, crying at her desk. On June 16, 2022, she informed the city commission that she would be taking leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) due to a serious health condition that had developed from the hostile work environment.
The next day, the lawsuit says, Huffman sent an email to the city’s human resources director asking if the FMLA required employers to pay employees “the entire time they are not on the job” and also asked if they are required to “maintain the position during the time away?”
Huffman then began a campaign to get rid of Anderson while she was on leave, the complaint alleges.
On July 3, 2022, the mayor told the local newspaper The Lakeland Ledger regarding Anderson’s absence that she was “baffled by the whole thing,” that “It’s a hot mess,” and “The residents deserve more, we just don’t know where she is,” despite knowing that Anderson was on approved medical leave.
By July, she was diagnosed with depression, insomnia and anxiety, Anderson claims.
While she was gone, the city demoted Anderson, and Huffman put the proposed termination of her employment on a city meeting agenda prior to her return to work. When she returned from leave on Sept. 22, 2022, the city commissioners voted to suspend Anderson with pay until the next commission meeting. Three days later, she was blocked from entering city facilities and accessing accounts.
Anderson then filed a complaint with the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission (EEOC) alleging discrimination, harassment, and retaliation, which the lawsuit asserts was a second whistleblower complaint. She gave a copy of the EEOC filing to the city commission and Huffman on Oct. 3.
The following day, Anderson was fired “without cause” after a 3-2 vote by the city commissioners, including Huffman (who, under the Haines city government structure, served as both a commissioner and mayor).
Prior to voting to terminate Anderson, Huffman and one of the commissioners had discussed their concerns over a backlog of city minutes and city ordinances that needed to be officially recorded, duties that the clerk’s office is responsible for. Other commissioners and city staff pointed out that the backlog of minutes had existed for years, prior to Anderson’s hiring, and that the city should give Anderson more time to catch up, given that she had just returned from a few months of leave, according to court documents.
The lawsuit says her firing by Huffman and the city was in retaliation for her complaints and for taking medical leave, in violation of the state whistleblower’s act and the FMLA.
It also accuses Haines City of racial discrimination and harassment, and Huffman of defamation for imputing to the public that “Plaintiff was promiscuous, was not truthful, and insinuated Plaintiff went on FMLA for suspicious reasons and was [AWOL – Absent Without Leave].”
For causing her economic and emotional damages and harming her reputation and career, Anderson sought a jury trial to award her compensatory damages, back pay and front pay, reinstatement to an equivalent position at the city, or a judgment making up for her monetary losses, as well as punitive damages.
In their answer filed in December 2023 and in other court documents filed more recently, the City of Haines and Huffman denied all of Anderson’s allegations.
The city asserted that she was fired for underperforming and had not proven any of her legal claims.
In March, U.S. District Court Judge William F. Jung denied the defendants’ motion for summary judgment, finding that prior to making her original complaint, the commissioners had individually given Anderson positive performance reviews.
Huffman, he wrote, gave her a “glowing review,” stating that Anderson “exceeded [her] expectations,” had an “exceptional” work ethic, and was “reliable,” “dependable,” and a “great asset to the city. … Indeed, the entire Commission had discussed giving Plaintiff a raise.”
Jung further noted that immediately after Anderson requested FMLA leave, “Ms. Huffman was angry and retributive, specifically asking if Plaintiff could be fired while on FMLA leave. … The City contemplated using tardy FMLA paperwork as a reason for firing Plaintiff, and ultimately suspended Plaintiff the very day she returned from FMLA leave. This is sufficient evidence of retaliatory … animus.”
The judge also ruled that Huffman’s “other boyfriend” comment at the June 2 Commission meeting was not made as part of her official job duties at the city and that she couldn’t claim immunity on the defamation claim.
He further observed that Anderson had “offered evidence of injury suffered as a result of the statement. She proffers reputational harm and emotional distress, plus resultant medical leave, treatment, therapy and economic harm.”
In April, the parties jointly agreed to dismiss the defamation claim against Huffman, leaving Haines City as the remaining defendant.
The case proceeded to trial in June, and on the second day, on June 17, the city and Anderson decided to settle, filing a notice of joint settlement with the court.
On July 3 the City of Haines commission voted to approve the agreement which stipulates that the city’s insurer will pay Anderson $550,000 and that the city will pay $2,500 to the insurer.
Anderson agreed to dismiss her claims against the city and to sign a release benefiting the city, which admits no liability in the matter. The parties will pay for their own attorneys’ fees and legal costs.
Kelly Chanfrau, Anderson’s attorney, told Fox13, “Erica is an amazing person. This never should’ve happened. She was an incredible city clerk, and she stood up for others so they don’t have to endure this.”
In an emailed statement to Atlanta Black Star, Merissa Green, a spokesperson for Haines City, noted, “The Second Amended Complaint contained four counts against Commissioner Anne Huffman (FMLA Retaliation, FMLA Interference, Defamation Per Se, and Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress). All counts against Commissioner Anne Huffman were either dropped or dismissed prior to the start of the trial in federal court.”
Reflecting that the judge had not yet approved the settlement between Anderson and Haines City, Green said while the city commission did approve the settlement on July 3, “the case is still technically open” and the city will not make further comment for now.
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