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Court awards Atlanta whistle-blowers By Richard Whitt rwhitt@ajc.com A U.S. District Court jury awarded three fired city of Atlanta employees $473,721 in damages Thursday evening after determining the city dismissed them for speaking out against improper and possibly illegal activities by other workers. Sara Thomas, Reynold Holborough and Edward K. Coachman were fired in January 1998 from the Atlanta Private Industry Council after complaining to superiors about colleagues who campaigned for Mayor Bill Campbell's re-election during work hours. They also cooperated in a state Department of Labor audit that was highly critical of the PIC operation. Holborough testified this week that he also got into trouble because he reported irregularities in payments to PIC contractors who had political ties to the mayor. All three employees were awarded back pay and compensatory damages: Thomas, $210,355; Holborough, $172,511; and Coachman, $90,855. In addition, the city must pay attorneys' fees that could run in excess of $300,000. "We're thrilled with the verdict," said the workers' attorney, Debra Schwartz. "We think it was a very fair verdict and we're just thrilled." One of the city's attorneys, Bob Godfrey, isn't so happy with the verdict. "It's a slam-dunk certainty" that the city will appeal, Godfrey said. They jury, which deliberated for several hours, determined that the city violated the worker' rights of free speech as well as the federal "whistle-blower" statute. The three employees all testified that they had undergone extreme physical and financial trauma as a result of their firings nearly three years ago. After the firings, Schwartz said Mayor Campbell added insult to injury by issuing a news release that the employees were "under investigation by the city's Law Department for removing and altering federal and city documents and removing city equipment." Thomas testified that she became depressed and lost 78 pounds in the months after she was fired. "I was really, really outraged with the mayor of Atlanta because he knew that nepotism and cronyism was the order of the day at the city of Atlanta," Thomas said. Holborough's wife left him and his young son about three months after his firing. "I was absolutely devastated," Holborough said. After the verdict, Holborough said he was "grateful this comes to its conclusion and truth and justice prevails." "They offered me a raise and then in the end they terminated me because I spoke out about violations at the PIC," he said. Coachman, who got the smallest award, said he too is pleased with the jury's verdict. "I got a job right away and didn't have as much damages," he said. 160 Clairemont Ave., Suite 595, Decatur (Atlanta), GA 30030 O: 404-377-7717 F: 404-377-5119
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