Kansas City retaliated against employee who reported race discrimination, suit says
A former Kansas City employee is suing the city, saying she was fired for complaining about race discrimination and “other unfair, unethical and illegal practices” at City Hall.
Denise Dillard, who worked in the Office of Culture and Creative Services, was fired from her post 10 months ago. She filed suit against the city last week in Jackson County Circuit Court, claiming that not only was she discriminated against based on race, but that she was retaliated against for raising concerns that the city gave preferential treatment to predominately white community organizations seeking grants.
The office faces elimination in Mayor Quinton Lucas’ proposed budget.
In her lawsuit, Dillard, a black woman, claims she “was subjected to different terms and conditions of employment and an ongoing practice and/or pattern of discrimination/disparate treatment” and faced retaliation for complaining about it. She also claims her supervisor, Megan Crigger, a white woman, engaged in “discriminatory management” and “discriminatory and inappropriate disbursement” of a fund meant to support neighborhood and community events and retaliated against her for reporting those “ethical violations.”
“We believe the reasons the City put forth for her firing are groundless and merely a pretext for getting rid of her after she discovered a pattern of discriminatory practices related to the disbursement of funding provided by the Neighborhood (Tourist) Development Fund,” Dillard’s attorney Madeline Johnson said in a statement. “Ms. Dillard has faith in our justice system and looks forward to her day in court.”
Dillard’s suit claims the city discriminated and retaliated against her based on race and also retaliated against her for being a whistleblower. The suit names only the city of Kansas City as a defendant.
“Defendants have retaliated against (Dillard) by terminating her employment for confronting her supervisor about gross mismanagement of funds, abuse of authority, discriminatory practices in the awarding of grant funding, violations of policy, violations of law and violations of ethical canons,” the suit says.
According to the suit, Dillard started working for the city in 2004. Before her firing, she was administrator of the Neighborhood Tourist Development Fund, which typically provides grants to help fund community and neighborhood events. The 2018 Open Spaces festival also drew heavily on the fund and needed additional city underwriting to make ends meet.
Dillard claimed that Crigger would revise policy on a whim and defy ordinances to benefit white groups and applicants.
Dillard “shared her concerns about inconsistent adherence to policy, making special exceptions to policy and making disbursements in contravention of city ordinance for primarily Caucasian applicants to Crigger on multiple occasions up to and including October 2017,” the lawsuit says.
In October 2017, Dillard resigned but later rescinded her resignation at the request of the neighborhood tourism program’s board and “upon the promise of City Manager Troy Schulte to the NTDF Committee that he would address plaintiff’s concerns.” Schulte, who has since left that post, didn’t address the issue, the lawsuit says.
Months later, Dillard confronted Crigger over unequal treatment of grant applicants, claiming she had used “strict enforcement of the rules and ordinance to deny funding” to NETS Developmental League, a youth sports league that also encourages literacy. According to the lawsuit, that group is predominantly black.
But Crigger, according to the lawsuit, excused the requirement for West Bottoms Reborn, an organization dedicated to supporting art, infrastructure and public space in the West Bottoms. The group is predominantly white, the lawsuit says.
The lawsuit claims that Crigger gave Dillard a disciplinary write-up for opposing her.
According to the lawsuit, Crigger also barred Dillard from attending an Open Spaces kickoff event because Dillard “was not of the necessary caliber,” which Dillard believed to refer to her race.
In 2018, the lawsuit claims, Crigger was allowed to execute contracts for events that had already happened. Kansas City Creates, the fiscal agent for Open Spaces, was one of those groups.
Eventually, in January 2019, Dillard was suspended without pay after she “retained comp tickets for personal gain.”
“Caucasian employees and specific employees of the city manager’s office frequently retained comp tickets for personal use and were not punished for doing so,” the lawsuit claims.
Kansas City spokesman Chris Hernandez said in an email that the city doesn’t typically comment on ongoing litigation and had yet to be served with a copy of the lawsuit.
He said, however, that the city “strongly values diversity and expects all employees to treat others with respect.”
“As we build a workplace where everyone is valued, the city provides training on diversity, harassment and discrimination issues,” Hernandez said. “This training is required of all full-time, part-time, seasonal and contract employees every 2-3 years. New employees go through this same training course as part of their orientation. We provide additional training for managers and supervisors.”
Lucas’ office declined to comment, and Schulte did not return a request for comment on Thursday.
In his budget proposed with Acting City Manager Earnest Rouse, Lucas proposed eliminating the Office of Culture and Creative Services, which was established in 2015 by then-Mayor Sly James’ administration. One position would be moved into the Neighborhoods and Housing Services Department to facilitate the neighborhood tourism program.
Over the coming weeks, the City Council will tweak Lucas’ proposal and eventually adopt a budget.
