A
former
employee
in
the
registrar’s
office
at
the
Morehouse
School
of
Medicine
is
preparing
to
file
a
discrimination
complaint
with
Atlanta’s
Human
Relations
Commission,
charging
her
bosses
with
firing
her
because
she
is
a
lesbian.
Ashland
Johnson,
23,
who
processed
student
transcripts
and
enrollment
verification
at
the
Morehouse
School
of
Medicine
since
July
2005,
was
fired
Aug.
28.
Her
termination
letter
from
the
school’s
human
resources
department
alleged
her
“failure
to
consistently
meet
the
performance
and
attendance
standards”
of
her
job.
But
Johnson
said
there
were
no
complaints
about
the
quality
of
her
performance
until
she
missed
work
due
to
a
back
injury
this
past
July,
during
which
Johnson’s
supervisor
discovered
an
e-mail
from
her
lesbian
partner
on
her
computer.
“I
came
back
to
work
and
she
told
me
she
accessed
my
files,”
Johnson
said
of
her
supervisor,
Morehouse
School
of
Medicine
Registrar
Karen
A.
Lewis.
“I
noticed
a
difference
as
soon
as
I
came
back,”
Johnson
continued.
“[Lewis]
said,
‘I’ve
been
on
your
computer,
I’ve
seen
your
documents,
and
I
think
you
would
be
better-suited
to
work
in
another
department.’”
Following
her
return
work,
Johnson
and
Lewis
traded
numerous
e-mails
and
memos,
with
Johnson
repeatedly
requesting
a
transfer
to
another
department
and
Lewis
highlighting
what
she
considered
deficiencies
in
Johnson’s
work
performance.
The
ACLU
of
Georgia
is
assisting
Johnson
as
she
prepares
the
paperwork
for
her
complaint
with
the
city
of
Atlanta,
and
plans
to
represent
her
during
a
hearing
with
the
Human
Relations
Commission,
said
Beth
Littrell,
associate
legal
director
of
the
ACLU
of
Georgia.
The
Human
Relations
Commission
is
a
seven-member
citizen
panel
charged
with
enforcing
the
city’s
anti-bias
ordinance,
which
prohibits
discrimination
in
areas
such
as
employment
and
housing
on
the
basis
of
sexual
orientation,
among
other
categories.
Johnson
is
also
using
internal
routes
within
the
Morehouse
School
of
Medicine
to
appeal
her
firing,
but
said
she
has
not
been
given
a
timeline
for
when
the
appeal
will
take
place.
The
Morehouse
School
of
Medicine
is
a
private,
historically
black
two-year
medical
school
that
was
created
within
Morehouse
College
in
1973.
Two
years
later,
the
Morehouse
School
of
Medicine
became
an
independent
institution,
and
it
currently
is
not
affiliated
in
any
way
with
Morehouse
College,
according
to
Gayle
Converse,
a
communications
officer
for
the
Morehouse
School
of
Medicine.
Lewis
declined
to
comment
on
Johnson’s
allegations
of
discrimination.
‘Outside
activities’
prompt
dismissal?
Prior
to
the
July
incident
when
Lewis
accessed
Johnson’s
computer,
Johnson
said
the
two
women
“got
along
very
well.”
They
exchanged
Christmas
gifts,
and
Johnson
went
to
see
a
couple
of
movies
with
Lewis’s
son,
Johnson
said.
Despite
the
friendly
relationship,
Johnson
said
she
was
too
fearful
to
tell
Lewis
about
her
sexual
orientation.
“I
knew
to
keep
it
under
wraps,”
said
Johnson,
who
was
aware
that
Lewis
attended
a
strict
Pentecostal
church.
“One
time
she
made
a
comment
about
Hurricane
Katrina
in
front
of
me
—
that
it
was
a
result
of
people’s
lifestyles.”
Johnson
missed
two
days
of
work
in
early
July
after
throwing
out
her
back,
and
upon
returning
to
work
she
was
locked
out
of
her
computer
work
station
and
had
her
office
keys
taken
away,
according
to
memos
and
e-mails
exchanged
between
Johnson
and
Lewis.
In
those
exchanges,
Lewis
claims
that
while
Johnson
was
out
of
the
office,
the
registrar’s
office
received
a
33-page
non-work
related
fax
requesting
Johnson
to
proofread
a
document.
“I
felt
that
outside
activities
such
as
this
may
be
contributing
to
your
problems,”
Lewis
wrote
in
a
July
17
memo.
“As
your
supervisor,
I
felt
it
was
within
the
scope
of
my
authority
to
investigate
further.
I
chose
to
log
on
to
the
front
desk
computer
…
and
quickly
identified
a
large
number
of
documents
that
were
obviously
personal
given
their
titles.”
The
documents
on
Johnson’s
computer
indicated
she
was
looking
for
a
new
job,
and
using
Morehouse
School
of
Medicine
equipment
to
do
personal
freelance
work,
Lewis
wrote.
Lewis
never
mentions
discovering
a
letter
from
Johnson’s
girlfriend
in
any
of
the
exchanges.
But
Johnson
said
Lewis
was
long
aware
that
she
did
freelance
proofreading,
and
she
disputes
using
school
equipment
for
outside
work.
Lewis’s
accusations
of
being
dissatisfied
with
Johnson’s
work
performance
were
merely
attempts
to
provide
cover
for
an
unjust
firing,
Johnson
and
Littrell
charged.
“In
any
employment
discrimination
case
it’s
not
unusual
for
employers
or
supervisors
to
try
to
mask
their
prejudice,
or
create
reasons
for
the
termination
that
look
legitimate
in
hindsight,”
Littrell
said.
In
a
written
rebuttal
to
...
