WALTON COUNTY, Fla. — The former deputy county administrator for Walton County is now suing the county commission.
In March of last year, Dede Hinote was fired.
In her case, Hinote’s lawyer wrote that the commission did not have the legal right to fire her, did not follow their own rules for handling workers, and treated Hinote unfairly because she is a woman.
Hinote is also fighting three county commissioners, Michael Barker, William McCormick, and Danny Glidewell, on their own.
The claim says, “Hinote was made to feel uncomfortable by the County’s Commissioners in what many people call a “good ole’ boy” environment.”
At the time, Commissioner said that Hinote’s job was being ended because she had used a county buying card to buy things for herself. Hinote said that each time the money was returned and that she had not broken any card rules.
Hinote’s claim says that the commissioners fired her because of the buying card problem as a way of getting back at her. Hinote also said that she stood up for another county worker who was fired unfairly by the commission.
Hinote said that Commissioner Danny Glidewell tried to scare and threaten him because he was angry about a post someone else made on social media. She also said that Glidewell tried to scare and bother her because she made a choice about the work crew for the parks and recreation department.
Hinote’s claim also compared how she was treated to how a man worker who did the same job for the county as she did was treated. The man made $102,000, and Hinote made $88,000.
When he lost his job, the man was able to use all of his paid time off. He was also able to stay on the county salary, get cost-of-living raises, keep his insurance, and keep getting the county’s payments to the Florida Retirement System.
But when Hinote was fired, none of these things were given to her. Hinote is asking for severe damages, back pay, and damages to make up for what he lost.
We called the Walton County attorney, Glidewell, and the county commissioners, Glidewell, McCormick, and Barker, on Wednesday, but they did not answer.
This is the second lawsuit against the commission for sex discrimination in less than a year. Heather Maxwell, who used to work as an assistant county attorney, sued the county in October for sexual discrimination and unfair firing.
