Burnette Shutt & McDaniel represent Horry County worker in wrongful termination case
Burnette Shutt & McDaniel attorneys are fighting for a former Horry County worker who lost her job after making allegations of procurement fraud.
Filed March 31 in U.S. District Court, the worker’s lawsuit alleges wrongful termination, defamation, civil conspiracy, violation of the South Carolina whistleblowers act, and violations of the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution.
Jack Cohoon, Sarah J.M. Cox and Lydia Robins Hendrix represent the plaintiff, former Horry County procurement specialist Lauren DeMasi.
“In this case, we’re standing up not only for an employee who lost her job for doing the right thing, but we’re also standing up for taxpayers who were being defrauded by officials trusted to take care of the public’s money,” Cox said.
The chain of events began a year ago, when DeMasi was reviewing expenditures at the Myrtle Beach International Airport. She noticed that delivery addresses did not match county property for many purchases by Horry County magistrates and the solicitor’s office. The orders included luxury items such as large-screen televisions and golf equipment.
After DeMasi and co-workers brought their suspicions of fraud to higher-ups, DeMasi was asked to resign because she was causing “disharmony” in the workplace. She was told that if she resigned she would be eligible for unemployment benefits, but if she were fired she would not be. In reality, the opposite is true.
The suit alleges that a Horry County official began circulating rumors that DeMasi was fired for being in a cult after DeMasi resigned. When DeMasi tried to file a grievance over her dismissal, she was told that she didn’t have the right to do so because she had resigned – even though county officials had lied to her about unemployment eligibility in order to coerce her to resign.
DeMasi is asking for actual and punitive damages in the case. Read the filing here.