Days after he was elected Anderson County Circuit Court clerk, William Jones fired a 24-year employee who was 69 years old.
Records state Helen R. Forrester was dismissed Sept. 10, 2014. William Jones was elected Aug. 7, 2014.
Forrester sued in December 2014, alleging age discrimination. Jones, however, told 10News on Wednesday that her co-management job was eliminated and she was assigned another job instead that she didn't like.
Her lawsuit was settled in August 2016 for $20,000.
Jones' leadership is under fire, with five women who have worked for him complaining he touched them inappropriately, asked them to dress provocatively, sent them sexually charged messages or asked illegal, personal questions as their boss, records obtained by 10News show.
He's also "willfully refused" to take part in mandatory harassment training, according to an Anderson County Commission resolution.
Records obtained by 10News show the women also say he favors employing young, attractive women and that there's been high turnover in his office since he was elected.
On Feb. 20, the Anderson County Commission unanimously called on him to resign after a presentation by human resources officials about Jones' alleged harassment. Commissioners also condemned his alleged behavior.
Jones has declined to resign. He's not been charged, and commission has no authority to remove him.
He is running for re-election. In May, he faces former Anderson County Mayor Rex Lynch, who pleaded guilty in 2011 to sales tax fraud.
A Briceville Republican and former county party chair, Jones denies he's done anything wrong in managing his employees. He attributes the accusations to politics and an explicit attempt to attack his character.
Jones: Forrester reassigned
Forrester's complaint was resolved by agreement for $20,000, according to Art Knight, a defense attorney in the case. That's about half what Forrester made annually working for the court system.
Forrester had worked since October 1990 for the county, according to records.
She consistently received good "if not excellent work evaluations," according to the lawsuit. Forrester thought her job was safe because of her lengthy time of good service, the lawsuit states.
"There was no legitimate reason to discharge (Forrester) from her employment," the lawsuit states.
It continues:
"(Forrester) was being terminated from her employment in order that William Jones, individually, could replace the plaintiff with a much younger individual of his own choosing."
Knight said the case was settled in compromise with attorneys fees to be paid by each respective side. Under the terms of the compromise, the lawsuit can't be resurrected.
Jones said discrimination had nothing to do with Forrester's dismissal.
He said he got rid of her position as part of a staff restructuring when he took office.
"She was reassigned a deputy clerk position, but didn't like being demoted and became insubordinate," he said in a statement.
Jones said he employs workers with a range of experience.
"I currently have at least one employee that is 80 years old and several others over the age of 50," he said. "This lawsuit was settled by the law director and County Commission, not by me. I was told if I wanted to fight it I would need to retain my own attorney and pay for it."
Complaints
In 2015, a woman who worked only about a week for Jones filed a complaint against him. The woman alleged he asked her improper questions about her address and religious interests during an interview and that he made a remark about having a "fetish" for women who ate yogurt one day when she sat in his office eating yogurt.
According to Russell Bearden, human resources director at the time, he tried to get Jones to take sexual harassment training that he'd arranged but Jones declined.
Jones instead took online training through a municipal government advisory organization.
On Feb. 20, interim human resources director Kim Whitaker ticked off examples for county commissioners of how Jones has engaged in improper behavior with employees, including referring to himself in the office as "Daddy." He also sent a vulgar message to one woman on Snapchat, according to Whitaker.
Jones has said he may have engaged in some "minor offensive joking" but nothing to the degree that's been alleged.
He also said he's been the target of "premeditated political character assassination."