United Way of Tarrant County faces second discrimination lawsuit by a black woman

A former vice president of human resources for the United Way of Tarrant County has filed a federal lawsuit against the nonprofit, claiming race discrimination and retaliation.

Coneisha Sherrod, who was fired on March 3, stated in her lawsuit that the United Way fired her in an email for missing meetings.

But Sherrod, who is black and had worked for the United Way since October 2013, said she was present for all of the meetings she is accused of missing.

She claims she was fired because of her willingness to testify about business mistakes and discriminatory practices that were pervasive within United Way management. Sherrod also said she believes she was fired because she stood up for another black woman who filed — and later settled — an earlier lawsuit against the United Way.

The suit does not indicate how much money the woman is seeking.

The attorney representing the United Way of Tarrant County, Andrew Turner, of the Ogletree Deakins Law Firm, declined to discuss the individual claims made in the Sherrod lawsuit.

“We are aware of the lawsuit and categorically deny the allegations in the lawsuit,” Turner said. “The United Way does not discriminate on the basis of race or any other basis and we believe we will prevail in this lawsuit.”

The woman who had filed suit in December was Marilyn Jones, the former executive vice president of community development. Her lawsuit, which was also based on race discrimination and retaliation, claimed she was paid less than other United Way Tarrant County executives with similar job titles and was denied a chance to compete for the chief executive officer position when it became available.

Jones, like Sherrod, complained to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission about the treatment she received, lawsuits filed by Sherrod and Jones said. Sherrod’s lawsuit said she told United Way executives about her complaints to the federal government and was fired the next day.

“United Way of Tarrant County’s CEO [Tim McKinney] says that if the Executive VP of Community Development [Marilyn Jones] brings litigation that it would be the kiss of death of her employment with United Way,” Sherrod’s lawsuit said.

Brian Sanford, Sherrod’s attorney, said it is a violation of federal law to fire someone because they have complained about racism or have asked for an investigation into discrimination.

Sherrod claims she began having issues with her supervisors when she suggested that management take a second look at the Mutual of American Life Insurance Co.’s oversight of the charity’s retirement accounts, because they were inaccurate. The friction intensified when she said Jones’ complaint against the charity had merit, Sherrod said.

The Jones lawsuit was dismissed July 27 after the two parties entered into a settlement agreement, according to court documents. Karen Fitzgerald, the lawyer who represented Jones, said she could not comment because the settlement agreement is confidential.

The two lawsuits come on the heels of decreased donations reported for the United Way and when about a third of its staff was laid off.

“Our goal was $19 million last year, and we received more than $2 million less than that in the campaign,” according to Melody Kresser, a United Way spokeswoman.

T.D. Smyers, United Way of Tarrant County chief executive officer, issued this statement: “We are disappointed that a former employee of United Way of Tarrant County has chosen to sue our organization and we deny her allegations in the strongest possible terms. However, because there is an active lawsuit underway, United Way will not be commenting further on this sensitive issue.”

This story was originally published October 9, 2017 at 11:32 AM with the headline "United Way of Tarrant County faces second discrimination lawsuit by a black woman."