HENRY COUNTY, Ga. — A metro Atlanta budget director was formally reprimanded, publicly, after an investigation determined she had misused her position and fired a member of staff outside of county policy.
A public reprimand was posted in mid-March, but additional claims that the director violated state law were not proven by the county’s investigation.
Bernita Campbell, the Henry County Director of Budget, was accused of firing a member of her department after isolating them from their colleagues, not training them on how to operate the county systems they were responsible for and removing them from the county’s employment outside of set Human Resources policies.
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The Henry County Ethics Board published a letter of reprimand against Campbell on March 13, saying that after an investigation into the situation claimed by the now-former employee, they had found Campbell “predetermined” the firing.
Normal county procedures require several disciplinary meetings and corrective training sessions before employees are able to be terminated.
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Investigation by ethics board members, which involved multiple interviews with other staff in addition to Campbell, verified the terminated employee’s account, leading to the disciplinary action and public reprimand.
Campbell was said to have inserted false performance evaluations into the employee’s personnel record as part of plan to fire her, regardless of actual HR procedures, the ethics commission’s letter says.
County policy requires three performance evaluations and probationary periods occur before termination.
The employee’s colleagues provided testimony that members of the ethics board determined verified the claims that Campbell had “predetermined” the firing, taking actions to remove the employee outside of the correct process.
Ethics board members also determined that Campbell had given herself exemptions from county policy without justification.
Campbell only drafted a single probationary evaluation, then fired the employee three days later, the ethics board reported. The county’s HR department was also not included in the process, despite county policy requiring they review the supporting documents before termination.
"The Board finds that Ms. Campbell misused her position by securing unwarranted exemptions for herself," the board wrote. “Specifically, Ms. Campbell utilized the ninety-day probationary period to mask the deficiencies that arose from her failure, as direct supervisor to [the employee], to ensure that [the employee] received the training necessary to perform the duties of her position.”
Channel 2 Action News reached out to Campbell for comment on the letter of reprimand and is waiting for a response.
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