Aug. 8—OXFORD — A former Itawamba Community College employee who claims she was fired after reporting fraud to the state auditor will have her day in federal court next month.
U.S. District Judge Glen Davidson denied the defendants' motion for summary judgment Aug. 4, setting the stage for a trial slated to begin Sept. 18 at the federal courthouse in Oxford.
Tatiana Sherman was a workforce project manager for the school when she started reporting alleged fraud and wrongdoings in the workforce training logs to her bosses in 2015. Over the next few years, she continued to voice complaints to supervisors Joe Lowder and Tzer Nan Waters. Both are named defendants in the lawsuit along with college president Jay Allen.
The defendants claim Sherman was underperforming at her job and was placed on a performance improvement plan in the spring of 2019. She denies the allegations.
In September 2019, Sherman and her attorney penned a letter outlining the alleged illegalities taking place at the school and sent copies to President Allen, Workforce Development Director Lowder and State Auditor Shad White. Investigators from White's office raided the school in February 2021.
About three months after the raid by the auditor's office, Sherman was fired. Lowder was indicted for fraud by a Lee County grand jury in September 2021.
Sherman filed her lawsuit in December 2021 claiming her termination violated her First Amendment Right of free speech. She said it also violated the state's...
Park Filed Complaint Against President Lee Ahead of 2021 Election Jang Youngha Sentenced to One Year in Prison, Two Years Probation Confirmed The police have launched an investigation into Park Chu...