A Liberty County School System employee in March filed a federal suit against the Liberty County Board of Education seeking more than $24,000 as compensation for alleged age, sex and race discrimination.  
Glenda George of Allenhurst represents herself in the hand-written suit filed in the U.S. Southern District Court of Georgia. Termination, demotion and denial of equal pay or work are among the complaints for which George seeks relief.  
Liberty County Board of Education attorney Christian J. Steinmetz on Aug. 13 filed an answer to the suit, along with a motion to dismiss.
“All actions taken by defendant with respect to plaintiff’s allegations were made by defendant based on legitimate, nondiscriminatory and unprejudiced reasons,” the response says.
Among the defenses presented, Steinmetz says the “defendant, unlike the school district which it manages, ‘is not a body corporate and does not have the capacity to sue or be sued.’”
The motion to dismiss elaborates on this point and cites previous Georgia Supreme Court and Appellate Court rulings that a board of education cannot be sued unless “a narrow and limited exception can be established.”
According to the suit, 58-year-old George was employed by the board at the time of the suit, but did not list the dates or nature of her employment.
She states that Superintendent Dr. Judy Scherer and Liberty County High School Principal Paula Scott discriminated against her on basis of age, sex and race when they terminated her duties as a bus driver.
“Several other employees served the system as bus drivers, para-professionals and other additional assignments which enabled them to earn additional income. I was singled out due to my race and age to be removed,” she wrote. “No other employee (male/female, black, white or younger than 45) was put under this directive. All my evaluations were impeccable. This action was taken against me solely due to the conditions stated in my complaint.”
The plaintiff desires to “be made whole from the time this action was taken against me to the present time,” and says a professional will need to counsel her on the degree of her reliefs, the suit says.
George says her biweekly bus pay was $593.19 and seeks compensation from June 2010 to March 2012, but lists $24,912.12 as the total amount sought.
Steinmetz denies several of the counts in the suit, including any intended discrimination. The defendant says George was employed by the defendant at the time of filing, admits that George filed a complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and that her right-to-sue form was included in the suit.
Along with the suit, George filed a copy of a Feb. 6 EEOC report indicating that the commission was unable to make a finding because it could not “conclude the information obtained establishes violations of the statues but does not certify that the respondent is in compliance with the statutes.”