Fired ethics staffer sues

A former State Ethics Commission employee who was fired after raising concerns about possible preferential treatment to Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue filed a whistleblower lawsuit in state Superior Court today.

Amanda Thaxton, an office assistant, said the firing has hit her hard financially and she wants a judge to reinstate her immediately, Dan Kane reports. She said in the suit that she is also seeking an award of triple damages — as the state's whistleblower law allows — plus legal fees for being fired for reporting her concerns to the Office of the State Auditor and to the State Personnel Commission.

"This was this girl's first job out of college," said her lawyer, Michael C. Byrne of Raleigh. "She comes in from Elon University, gets a job from the state and then is abruptly fired for cooperating and engaging in protected activity. That's just not right."

Perry Newson, the commission's executive director, could not be reached for comment Tuesday. He has said that Thaxton, 24, was not fired in retaliation.

More after the jump.

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Thaxton's lawsuit said that Newson offered no explanation for firing her on July 24 and that she had not been disciplined or questioned about her work performance during her 15 months on the job. Thaxton was making $30,402 annually.

Thaxton also said she was fired for reporting a hostile work environment to the State Personnel Commission, which later released a review that cited a dysfunctional and distrustful workplace.
But the claim of preferential treatment to Perdue, the Democratic nominee for governor, has caused the bigger ruckus. The auditor is investigating whether a Perdue aide received special treatment when he was allowed to review her financial disclosure statements alone in a closed office. Newson has said nothing improper happened with the visit.

The commission has sued to have another agency perform the investigation, saying the auditor's office has a conflict of interest.