Fulton County is shelling out nearly a million dollars after Commissioner Natalie Hall's ex-flame and former chief of staff, Calvin Brock, accused her of sex discrimination that led to his firing. The pricey settlement follows a damning federal court decision earlier this month, which found that Commissioner Hall, indeed, discriminated against Brock on the basis of sex.
The controversy took a turn for the costly after the Board of Commissioners voted against appealing the judge's ruling, according to FOX 5 Atlanta. Brock's allegations of Hall's misconduct, including harrowing details of her putting trackers on his car, were central to an case that has now left taxpayers footing an over $900,000 bill.
In a statement to WSB-TV, Brock expressed feeling "vindicated" after enduring what he described as an unlikely scenario for a man. “A lot of people wouldn’t believe that a man would be going through something like this,” he said. His personal ordeal has shed light on the possibility of men being the target of gender-based discrimination in the workplace.
Adding to the melee, Commissioner Hall faced a censure from her peers back in October, with District 6 Commissioner Khadijah Abdur-Rahman citing the affair as reckless. Hall's actions "put the body and the taxpayers at risk," Abdur-Rahman argued. Despite the board's inability to directly oust one of their own, its members can, and did, publicly disapprove of Hall's conduct through the censure vote.
With the financial sting being felt by the community, it appears that it's up to the voters to decide Hall's political fate come November. In a conversation with Channel 2 Investigative Reporter Sophia Choi, Chairman Robb Pitts matter-of-factly said, "So in a final analysis, it’s the taxpayer who got screwed." Meanwhile, echoing the sentiment of public accountability, Abdur-Rahman alluded to the impending election as the ultimate verdict on Hall's behavior.
