Lawsuit accuses DTMB supervisor of treating woman unfairly, firing her because of her race

LANSING — A former state worker said she was subjected to stereotypes, held to an unfair standard and ultimately fired because of her race, according to a federal court complaint filed this month.

In the lawsuit, Debra Farmer, who is black, said her white supervisor at the Michigan Department of Management and Budget made repeated derogatory comments about her race and treated her differently than a white worker who was hired at the same time in early 2018.

Farmer was fired in August 2018, a decision upheld by the Michigan Civil Service Commission in June. She is suing the DTMB in federal district court in Grand Rapids, accusing the department of violating her civil rights.

The DTMB does not comment on pending litigation, spokesperson Caleb Buhs said in an email.

Farmer started with the department in 2015 as an IT programmer, a limited-term, full-time position. She was transferred to a full-time DTMB position in February 2018 after her initial employment term ended, and worked in the Center for Educational Performance and Information as a departmental analyst.

Farmer started the same day as a white employee, but was treated differently by her new supervisor Heather Handley, according to the suit. Handley gave Farmer work duties while both she and the white employee were still in training, but allowed the white employee to continue training without work assignments.

Handley also made repeated disrespectful comments to Farmer. According to the complaint, Handley referred to Farmer as "demanding" and "high maintenance" because she worked at a raised desk to accommodate a back issue and "weird" because she typed notes instead of writing them by hand, which she did because of a condition with her right hand.

Handley gave Farmer a three-month performance review in May, 2018, which she did not do for the white employee who started at the same time. Handley also made repeated derogatory and stereotypical comments to Farmer during that meeting, the lawsuit states. 

Comments about Farmer's hair and describing her as "high-maintenance" and "bossy" are clearly stereotypical and inappropriate for discussion in the workplace, her attorney Adam Taub said.

"I think a number of these things cross the line," he said. "Even if they didn't cross the line, Ms. Farmer was very much in her rights to complain about it and be free from retaliation."

Instead, Farmer was retaliated against, her complaint states. After complaining about Handley's comments and unfair treatment, Farmer was subjected to "unwarranted discipline" for months, suspended with pay for about a week and fired in August, 2018.

Farmer was a non-exclusively represented employee, not a member of a state worker union. 

In June, the Civil Service Commission sided with DTMB in a grievance case Farmer filed against the department. It ruled the department had sufficiently showed Farmer's performance was lacking and that there was just cause to fire her. Many of the documents Farmer showed in her defense were irrelevant, the commission found.

"Having failed to show the discipline selected — dismissal — was itself a violation, Farmer has not given the hearing officer any grounds to alter that disciplinary decision," the commission's decision states.

Documents show DTMB officials had argued Farmer was unable to do the work she was assigned despite managers providing her with additional training and mentoring. They argued she excessively documented processes, blamed her supervisor for misrepresenting facts and claimed the people assigned to help her were regularly unavailable.

At the time of her termination, 7% of DTMB's workforce identified as black or African American, according to a state workforce report, while 80% identified as white.

Farmer received a right to sue letter from the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Taub said.

More:Not just the State Police: Michigan government less diverse under Rick Snyder

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Contact Carol Thompson at (517) 377-1018 or ckthompson@lsj.com. Follow her on Twitter @thompsoncarolk.