NEW ORLEANS – A long-time worker in the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals says she was demoted in retaliation for filing an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission complaint against the department.
Deneen L. Montgomery-Smith filed a lawsuit Nov. 30 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana against the following defendants: the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals (DHH), the Office of Public Health-Louisiana Center for Records and Statistics; Devin George, individually and in his capacity as center director/state registrar, DHH Office of Public Health-Louisiana Center for Records and Statistics; Nadine Smith, individually and in her capacity as deputy registrar (former), DHH Office of Public Health-Louisiana Center for Records and Statistics; Darlene Warren-Smith, individually and in her capacity as DHH vital records consultant to center director/state registrar, DHH Office of Public Health-Louisiana Center for Records and Statistics; alleging racial and age discrimination.
Montogmery-Smith, a black woman older than 40, worked in state government since 1989 and with the Department of Health and Hospitals since 2002. After filing a claim with the EEOC and two discrimination lawsuits against the state, her lawsuit states she was transferred to the Office of Public Health without her consent, allegedly in retaliation for her complaints.
Montgomery-Smith seeks compensatory and punitive damages to be proven at a jury trial, plus litigation costs. She is represented by attorney Wanda Anderson Davis of the Metairie law firm Leefe, Gibbs, Sullivan and Dupre.
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District Case number 2:15-cv-06369