Woman says she was offered a job that was 'rescinded' after board members saw her Facebook profile
The lawsuit does not say how Hudson knew the board had discussed whether she is a lesbian, but her lawyer said a board member told Hudson.
No one from the center returned messages left by the Gazette on Thursday. A board member referred a request for comment to Sam Sommerville, the board's president, who did not return a message left on his cell phone.
Brown called the center's alleged actions "reprehensible."
"[People] should be judged on their qualities and résumé, and their ability to do the job," he said.
West Virginia's civil rights law -- called the West Virginia Human Rights Act -- prohibits discrimination based on characteristics including race, gender and religion. It does not include sexual orientation.
Hudson's lawsuit says the law is intended to ensure "equal opportunity for employment."
The lawsuit also says discrimination based on sexual orientation violates the intent of other public policy. For instance, the city of Charleston -- which gives grants to the center -- bans employment discrimination based on sexual orientation. So do federal agencies that also provide funds for the center.
Over the past few years, groups such as Fairness West Virginia, which advocates for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender residents, have unsuccessfully pushed lawmakers to add sexual orientation to the state's civil rights law.
"While it's a shame the current Human Rights Act in West Virginia does not cover one's actual or perceived sexual orientation, it certainly does cover one's perceived gender," Bradley Milam, Fairness West Virginia's program director, said in a statement Thursday. "And Ms. Hudson was terminated because she did not fit the perceived gender stereotype that her employer found acceptable."
The lawsuit seeks unspecified punitive damages, compensatory damages, "front pay and back pay," and an order barring the center from discriminating. It names the center and five board members as defendants.
Reach Alison Knezevich at alis...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-1240.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- A Kanawha County woman is suing a Charleston youth center, alleging that board members there fired her because they thought she was a lesbian after looking at her Facebook profile.
In a lawsuit filed earlier this week in Kanawha Circuit Court, Jessica A. Hudson says the Bob Burdette Center's board held an emergency meeting about her "perceived sexual orientation" after they had offered her a job as executive director of the center.
The center, headquartered on West Washington Street, runs after-school programs at four locations in Charleston: Emmanuel Baptist Church; the Tiskelwah Center; West Charleston Baptist Church; and Calvary Baptist Church. The programs are for more than 200 children, ranging from kindergarten to the 12th grade, according to the lawsuit.
Hudson's lawyer, Rick Brown of the firm Bailey & Glasser, would not say what Hudson's sexual orientation is.
"That's not for me to answer," he said. "The reason she was fired is because she was perceived as being a lesbian. Whether she is or not is immaterial."
Hudson applied for the executive director position May 26, the lawsuit says. The center got 12 applications for the job and picked seven people to be interviewed by a three-member search committee.
The committee interviewed Hudson on June 1, according to the lawsuit.
"That interview went so well and the Search Committee was so impressed by Ms. Hudson's qualifications and enthusiasm that its members agreed that, rather than select three ... job candidates for the second-round interview as they were charged to do, Ms. Hudson should be the only applicant to advance to the second interview stage," the lawsuit states.
The full board interviewed Hudson on June 13 and members unanimously voted to offer her the job, the lawsuit states. The board's president called Hudson hours after the interview to tell her.
Hudson accepted and said she would need to give her employer two weeks' notice before leaving, according to the lawsuit. She quit her job and was set to start June 29 at the Bob Burdette Center. The lawsuit does not state whether she signed an employment contract or not.
According to the lawsuit, the board held an emergency meeting June 19 to discuss her sexual orientation. The next day, the board's president and treasurer called Hudson "and informed her that her job 'offer' was 'rescinded' because of purported 'inconsistencies' in her résumé and 'misrepresentations' allegedly made by Ms. Hudson at her interview with the Board," the lawsuit says.
The lawsuit does not say how Hudson knew the board had discussed whether she is a lesbian, but her lawyer said a board member told Hudson.
No one from the center returned messages left by the Gazette on Thursday. A board member referred a request for comment to Sam Sommerville, the board's president, who did not return a message left on his cell phone.
Brown called the center's alleged actions "reprehensible."
"[People] should be judged on their qualities and résumé, and their ability to do the job," he said.
West Virginia's civil rights law -- called the West Virginia Human Rights Act -- prohibits discrimination based on characteristics including race, gender and religion. It does not include sexual orientation.
Hudson's lawsuit says the law is intended to ensure "equal opportunity for employment."
The lawsuit also says discrimination based on sexual orientation violates the intent of other public policy. For instance, the city of Charleston -- which gives grants to the center -- bans employment discrimination based on sexual orientation. So do federal agencies that also provide funds for the center.
Over the past few years, groups such as Fairness West Virginia, which advocates for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender residents, have unsuccessfully pushed lawmakers to add sexual orientation to the state's civil rights law.
"While it's a shame the current Human Rights Act in West Virginia does not cover one's actual or perceived sexual orientation, it certainly does cover one's perceived gender," Bradley Milam, Fairness West Virginia's program director, said in a statement Thursday. "And Ms. Hudson was terminated because she did not fit the perceived gender stereotype that her employer found acceptable."
The lawsuit seeks unspecified punitive damages, compensatory damages, "front pay and back pay," and an order barring the center from discriminating. It names the center and five board members as defendants.
Reach Alison Knezevich at alis...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-1240.
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