Samatha Whitfield, the former human resources manager for Flagler County government, is suing the county in a whistleblower action, claiming she was terminated last summer in retaliation for reporting violations of rules and misconduct by one of her colleagues, to which the county administration responded with indifference.
Whitfield’s is the third such lawsuit filed against the county in a year and a half. Sonya Graves, the former housing and human services manager, sued on two counts of discrimination in May 2023 after she said she was “constructively discharged” two months after being hired. The county says she resigned. Faith al-Khatib, the county’s long-time and celebrated engineer, sued for wrongful termination and discrimination last May. The county filed a motion to dismiss the suit. All former employees are represented by Marie Mattox, a Tallahassee labor attorney.
“Despite her stellar work performance during her employment” with the county, the suit states, Whitfield “was subjected to disparate treatment, different terms and conditions of employment, and held to a different standard because she reported Defendant’s unlawful employment activities and was subject to retaliation thereafter.”
After service in the military and employment at the Sheriff’s Office, Whitfield started work at the county’s HR department in August 2019. She was promoted to manager in March 2024. The same month she was offered a risk manager job at higher pay with another local government. Flagler County countered with an offer to match the salary, which Whitfield accepted.
Whitfield had been married to Timothy Whitfield, a former teacher at Flagler Palm Coast High School who was forced to resign after revelations of an inappropriate relationship with a student and of dishonesty on his job application with the district. (See: “FPC Teacher Forced Out: He’d Paid Student $5,569, Had Relationship With Her, and Lied on Job Application.”) The Whitfields divorced in 2021, though contentious court proceedings continued.
The same month that Samantha Whitfield had agreed to stay with Flagler County, she says Timothy Whitfield pursued a charge of stalking against her when he discovered a GPS tracking tile in his car. The charge was actually filed the previous October and dismissed in March, when the State Attorney’s Office itself filed a charge of installing a tracking device against Samantha, a second degree misdemeanor. Two weeks ago Whitfield signed a deferred prosecution agreement requiring a behavior modification course and 25 hours of community service. If she abides by the agreement’s terms for 12 monts–a form of probation–the charge will be dropped and her record could potentially be expunged.
But numerous issues developed at work after the charges were filed, according to Samantha Whitfield’s lawsuit even though the county administration ad been supportive and understanding during her divorce, assuring her that the charges would not impact her employment. “They reiterated that she had nothing to worry about in two separate conversations,” the lawsuit states in reference to Pamela Wu, then the human resources director, and Jorge Salinas, the deputy county administrator then and now. Wu resigned in August.
Whitfield claims that Anita Stoker, another employee in her division began to “bully and harass” her after her promotion, making references to her disability pay–Whitfield has a disability–and her court case and claiming she could rescind her raise. Several anonymous public record requests were filed regarding Whitfield’s records. County Administrator Heidi Petito and Salinas continued to support her.
After Whitfield became the acting manager (Wu having gone on family leave), Whitfield “engaged in protected whistleblower activity” to report to Petito and Salinas that Stoker was “improperly accessing confidential information” about employees, and again did so when Wu returned, but nothing was done. Whitfield informed Wu that she could not take the hostile atmosphere at work and would resign. County Attorney Al Hadeed tried to dissuade her, according to the lawsuit’s narrative.
“In July 2024, the County Commissioners informed [Petito] that [Whitfield]’s situation was purportedly drawing too much attention and that action was needed,” the lawsuit states, without naming the county commissioners or explaining where the commissioners had made such claims. They’d not done it at commission meetings, the only place where they may discuss ongoing matters of government they’re involved in. “Notably, County Commissioners are prohibited from involving themselves in personnel matters.”
On July 17, Petito informed Whitfield that “her resignation would be honored and that she was required to leave. No investigation into the reported bullying or hostile work environment was conducted, despite prior reassurances” to Whitfield. Instead of addressing the problems, the county “chose to terminate” Whitfield, the lawsuit states, “silencing her complaints and failing to investigate her allegations.”
In a July 18 interview with FlaglerLive, Petito said Whitfield had tendered her resignation on July 1, and that July 19 would be her last day. “She just said that she was moving in a different direction with her life and was pursuing a job in the private sector,” Petito said.
Petito was asked if Whitfield had gotten an offer in Ormond Beach that had been rescinded, causing Whitfield to ask to stay with the county. “I don’t know anything about that,” Petito said.
“Samantha has offered to stay after her completion of her job to work a few hours here and there just to help the transition of the new person,” Salinas said. Meanwhile, the county had advertised the position and gotten 34 applicants. “Since we had 34 applicants, we’re going to be going and doing that hiring process fairly quickly here.”
“There’s not really a need for her to stay on. We had already advertised her position. We have 34 applicants that closed yesterday,” Petito said in the July 18 interview. “So we’re going start the interviews sometime next week.”
By then Wu had submitted her own resignation but was “still on the county’s books till the end of August.” August 30 was to be her last day. What led to Wu’s resignation? “I don’t know. She just decided to resign,” Petito said. “For us it kind of caught us by surprise. I don’t know what led her to want to leave. I can only assume that she’s moving in a different path. Maybe she found a different job somewhere. She doesn’t live in our community. Maybe she found something closer to home.”
Petito was asked specifically if there had been any internal county investigations of the human resources department. “We’re not investigating anything,” the county administrator said. “We have a great team in human resources. The staff that we have is more than capable. They do a great job for Flagler County employees. They do a great job for our organization.”
“Sam,” Petito continued, “had expressed to me a desire to not work in the public sector, to work in the private sector, and that’s her prerogative. She had previously worked at the sheriff’s office, she previously did a career in the military. With that she retired from the military, and she just, I think, was looking for an opportunity to go to the private sector. It’s unfortunate because I think they contributed to the organization.”
whitfield-v-flagler-county
