Atlanta Faces Whistleblower Suits From Water Employees

A woman is taking Atlanta to court claiming she was fired from a city position for blowing the whistle about practices that could potentially contaminate city drinking water.

Terry Riggins was working as a Class 1 Watershed Plant Operator at the Atlanta Department of Watershed Management when she lost her job last year. The department provides water and sewer services in the city.

“In a complaint filed in Fulton County Superior Court on Nov. 12, Riggins claims she was fired for voicing her water safety concerns during a March 2014 meeting of the Atlanta City Council,” Courthouse News Service reported. “Riggins seeks $3 million in compensatory damages, punitive damages, back pay, front pay and benefits of a claim of retaliation under the Georgia Whistleblower Act.”

Riggins had spoken up about what she saw as potential threats to city drinking water. “She began, the complaint says, by voicing her concerns about the then-recent merger of Atlanta's sewer and water departments, which she said led to the potential transfer of pathogens via uniforms, tools and machinery,” the report said.

Details of her claim, per the news report:

According to Riggins, "employees who had previously been assigned to work on sewer system only were now being assigned to work on the clean water system." In effect, she said, those who rely on the city to provide them with clean drinking water, now run the risk of being exposed to contaminants ranging from "human feces, other human waste, hospital waste, blood borne pathogens and AIDS."

The complaint explained, per the news report: "Plaintiff stated that the same gloves, uniforms, tools and machinery utilized by sewer employees during their work on the wastewater system should not be used during their work on the clean water system because it could result in the contamination of clean water.”

In a letter from the city last year, Riggins was told: "Your comments had no factual basis, were made in reckless disregard for the truth and demonstrate a lack of professional judgment."

Other water workers have sued the city in whistleblower lawsuits, as well. Atlanta fired at least a dozen water employees in August of 2014. “In what city leaders say was a massive clean-up of the department,” The Atlanta Journal Constitution reported.

Gwendolyn Winston, who also filed suit against the department, “believes she was eliminated because she reported myriad concerns over health violations, safety hazards, compliance issues and fraud inside the department to her superiors,” the report said.

And Loren Yarbrough, “a 17-year employee who worked as an assistant Watershed manager at the time of his firing, believes he was ousted after reporting allegations of safety violations and missing equipment, including more than a dozen vehicles that could not be located,” the report said, citing the suit.

The department has faced deep challenges in recent years, according to the report:

Watershed has been under fire in recent years after city leaders discovered hundreds of thousands of dollars in missing or stolen equipment. The items include 28 industrial water meters weighing 700 pounds and worth $5,210 apiece, copper, pipes and more, according to police reports. City officials also have yet to find a missing backhoe worth $80,000. The city fired 13 people in August 2014. At least six other employees have been arrested at Watershed this year and face theft charges.

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