Report provides details, opinions about August incident
Robbinsville – Amid controversy over whether the Graham County Public Health Department should be dispensing emergency contraceptives, another controversy simmers.
In August, Graham County resident Brandi Adams was a peer-support specialist – working for Tallulah Community Health Center in Robbinsville – when she visited with staff at the Graham County Public Health Department. During her visit, she asked questions about emergency contraceptives and whether Ella – a drug available at the health department – was a form of abortion.
She had learned that Ella would also be available where she worked and was concerned about the implications in a Bible Belt area like Graham County.
Public Health Director Beth Booth was briefed by staff about the visit and called Adams’ supervisor and then the CEO of Tallulah Community Health Center’s parent company, Asheville-based Appalachian Mountain Community Health Center.
Within an hour after her returned to her workplace, Adams was on the phone with CEO Shantelle Simpson and, from Adams’ perspective, was fired.
Later in August, Adams went to the Graham County Board of Commissioners with a dual complaint — an allegation that a county department was prescribing what she believes to be an abortion pill, and an allegation that her attempt to get information about emergency contraceptives from the Public Health Department led to her being fired.
The Board of Commissioners heard her complaints during a closed
session and directed county attorney J.K. Coward to investigate, concerned about the county’s legal exposure concerning Adams’ firing and whether Ella was an abortion drug, something the Public Health Department is forbidden from prescribing. Coward turned in a detailed 10-page report that provides information not ordinarily made available to the public.
The Graham Star obtained a copy of the report following a public records request.
If Adams had been a county employee, that report would not been available to the public because of personnel privacy laws.
The report includes summaries of conversations recorded by surveillance videos at the Graham County Public Health Department, telephone call logs and transcripts and information from interviews with the people involved.
In short, Coward concluded that the county has no legal or civil exposure from Adams’ firing, although she may have a case for wrongful dismissal against her former employer.
The report
Coward looked into whether the county is liable for the dismissal of a private citizen from employment by a private employer, based on something a local government employee said to the private employer.
“There are two potential torts that may be relevant to this report, intentional interference to contractual relations, and defamation,” Coward wrote. “The first one occurs when a defendant intentionally and improperly interferes with the plaintiff’s rights under a contract (of employment) and the plaintiff loses some right under the contract.
“The basis for liability is intent, not negligence, and it requires actual damage. Broadly speaking, a communication is defamatory if it tends to so harm the reputation of another that it lowers him in the estimation of the community, here, the employer.”
To win a lawsuit against the county, Coward wrote, Adams would have to prove that Booth intended to cause her harm, such as disrupting her employment or – with reckless indifference to the consequences of her statement – make the statement anyway.
In short, Adams would have to prove Booth intended to harm her reputation.
Instead, Coward wrote, Booth called Adams’ workplace as a professional courtesy to alert her employer that Adams’ actions jeopardized a complicated local health program and put its contractual obligations in jeopardy that could result in a shutdown of local programs.
Adams’ side
Adams described to The Graham Star what happened that day in August when she returned to work.
“They just told me to back away from things or I would be terminated,” Adams said. “I told them I wouldn’t and they couldn’t control me after hours and I asked what was even going on and the CEO Shantelle said she refused to go back and forth with me; to stop letting my beliefs get in the way and when I said no, she said so be it and hung up. So to me, I was terminated.
“… They were making threats and rules and if I didn’t agree my job would be terminated. And when I refused to back away they said so be it and hung up. No replies or goodbye or anything.”
Adams said being asked to resign never came up during the conversation.
“That word never came up at all, just that my beliefs were causing trouble and because of info they got from health department about me asking about Ella was not going to be tolerated and if I kept pursuing this I would be terminated.
“… I was shocked and in the dark at that time that Beth called them, but when I asked why and what was happening, her exact words was I refuse to go back and forth with you so you understand. I said, ‘No I don’t, but you can’t control me or my beliefs,’ and she said so be it and hung up.”
Adams said she received an almost perfect employee evaluation and a raise just prior to her departure from the clinic.
She said the report about the incident was false.
“It was actually ridiculous what was written,” she said. “Their info came from Beth and the county’s attorney has gathered evidence proving the info given to AMCHC was false on all kinds of levels. But the write-up was so bad it may hinder a lawsuit and give them time to prep and I don’t wanna do that.”
Adams said she has information she is keeping private that helps her case.
“The commissioners were even told in closed session that I was not lying, but if I give up one of my smoking guns right now I will hinder myself and I don’t wanna do that just yet,” she said. “I do not want my job back because of the environment there and I don’t wanna say or do anything that will hurt innocent people.
“So as far as my part and the story behind that, I feel is over. The reason I’m saying this is because I don’t want to keep muddying the water with it. I’ve been informed that some changes may be coming with the Ella pill and I’m praying so hard that happens and don’t wanna hinder that by making this all about me because it’s not.
“I feel God laid this burden in my lap to fight and I did so, and I don’t wanna make it about me and not the Lord.”
The Board of Commissioners in November voted 3-2 for the Graham County Public Health Department to continue making Ella available. As of late-November, the department has never prescribed it.