{"id":723,"date":"2014-04-07T16:03:33","date_gmt":"2014-04-07T16:03:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gilhoylaw.com\/blog\/?p=723"},"modified":"2017-05-08T14:37:58","modified_gmt":"2017-05-08T14:37:58","slug":"former-georgia-ethics-director-wins-700000-in-workplace-retaliation-lawsuit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gilhoylaw.com\/blog\/former-georgia-ethics-director-wins-700000-in-workplace-retaliation-lawsuit\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Georgia Ethics Director Wins $700,000 Jury Verdict in Workplace Retaliation Lawsuit."},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Stacey Kalberman, the former director of the Georgia State Ethics Commission, has been awarded $700,000 in compensation after <a href=\"http:\/\/abcnews.go.com\/US\/wireStory\/ethics-chief-wins-retaliation-lawsuit-23198330\">a jury found that she was discriminated against for investigating complaints against Georgia Governor Nathan Deal.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/obmhzMb0dz4\" width=\"400\" height=\"280\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>The jury found that Kalberman&#8217;s salary was cut, and\u00a0that\u00a0her deputy director, Sherilyn Streicker, was fired after they conducted investigations into Governor Deal&#8217;s campaign reports and financial disclosures from 2010.\u00a0<\/strong> <strong>According to the lawsuit, Kalberman presented draft subpoenas in the Deal investigation to the board of commissioners for the Georgia State Ethics Commission at a May 3, 2011 meeting, asking the commissioners to authorize the issuance of the subpoenas.\u00a0 Kalberman then allegedly began to notice changes in her employment, including her salary cut and the elimination of her deputy\u2019s position.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Georgia\u2019s current Ethics Director, Holly LaBerge, also testified at trial, stating that she was contacted by a member of Governor Deal&#8217;s office just a short time later in mid-May 2011, asking if she&#8217;d be interested in taking over Kalberman&#8217;s job. LaBerge was then contacted by the board of commissioners about the job, all of which occurred before the opening had been publicly posted and before Kalberman\u2019s salary was cut.<\/p>\n<p>The Georgia Attorney General had defended the State in the case, claiming that the salary cut and position elimination were both the result of state budget concerns.\u00a0 <strong>The jury, however, agreed with Kalberman and her attorney, <a href=\"http:\/\/thrasherworth.com\/your-team\/kim-worth-trial-attorney\/\">Kim Worth<\/a>, who argued that the decisions were in direct retaliation for Kalberman&#8217;s zealous investigation into the complaints against Deal, and awarded her $700,000 in damages, as well as attorneys\u2019 fees and back pay.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Kalberman\u2019s former deputy, Streicker, is also suing the state for workplace retaliation.<\/p>\n<p>Deal has been cleared of any major violations in that investigation, but he was forced to pay $3,350 in administrative fees.\u00a0 Deal is a Republican, and he is seeking re-election in the state&#8217;s gubernatorial race this year.<\/p>\n<p>Are you or your loved one the victim of workplace harassment or retaliation?\u00a0 If so, you may be entitled to compensation for any damages you have suffered.\u00a0 To learn more about your legal options, please contact the highly skilled and experienced legal professionals at our <a href=\"https:\/\/gilhoylaw.com\/boston-massachusetts-about-gil-hoy-lawyers-attorneys.php\">Boston, MA law firm<\/a> today at <strong>617-787-3700<\/strong> or <a href=\"https:\/\/gilhoylaw.com\/boston-massachusetts-contact-gilbert-hoy-lawyers-attorneys.php\"><strong>info@gilhoylaw.com<\/strong><\/a>.\u00a0 Our <a href=\"https:\/\/gilhoylaw.com\">Boston, MA lawyers<\/a> are available <strong>24 hours a day, 7 days a week,<\/strong> to help you protect your legal rights and remedies.\u00a0 Call our <a href=\"https:\/\/gilhoylaw.com\">expert Massachusetts attorneys<\/a> today at <strong>617-787-3700<\/strong> for a <strong>free, confidential consultation<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Your needs are our top priority!<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Stacey Kalberman, the former director of the Georgia State Ethics Commission, has been awarded $700,000 in compensation after a jury found that she was discriminated against for investigating complaints against Georgia Governor Nathan Deal. The jury found that Kalberman&#8217;s salary &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/gilhoylaw.com\/blog\/former-georgia-ethics-director-wins-700000-in-workplace-retaliation-lawsuit\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[29,28,4,11],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gilhoylaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/723"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gilhoylaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gilhoylaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gilhoylaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gilhoylaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=723"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/gilhoylaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/723\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1141,"href":"https:\/\/gilhoylaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/723\/revisions\/1141"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gilhoylaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=723"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gilhoylaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=723"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gilhoylaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=723"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}