A 16-year employee of the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office who was fired appealed her firing and the County’s Grievance Committee ruled that her firing was not justified.
Glenda Wright, who worked in the jail’s kitchen was accused of multiple violations but according to the committee’s report, there was no documentation for those violations, which included ordering food that was not on the menu, failing to sign for food delivered to the jail, and failing to follow the menu plan.
In each case, the committee found that there was no signed or dated disciplinary action by her supervisors and no written statements from coworkers and inmates.
The Grievance Committee, which met Feb. 5, consisted of Justices of the Peace Danny Holcomb, who is chairman of the Human Resources Committee, Roy Agee, Conley Byrd, Patricia Royal Johnson and Ted Harden.
Absent were Justices of the Peace Cedric Jackson and Brenda Bishop Gaddy.
The committee recommended that Wright be reinstated to her previous employment status and receive back pay and benefits for the time she was off.
Wright was also accused of being insubordinate to her supervisors in a text message and aggressive bumping another person that was working in the kitchen, causing that person to require treatment at the hospital.
Regarding the text message, a committee report said they reviewed the message and “found the language appropriate and was viewed as an employee asking for clearer communication in the future.” In addition, there was no signed or dated disciplinary action by her supervisors in her personnel file.
Also, video of the incident in the kitchen showed that Wright did not aggressively hit the other kitchen employee, who turned and bumped Wright as she turned around. There was also no disciplinary action in her personnel file from that incident.
