DATE: Friday, October 31, 1997              TAG: 9710310644

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY MATTHEW DOLAN,STAFF WRITER

DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE                        LENGTH:   66 lines

EX-DIRECTOR SUES HOUSING AUTHORITY OVER HIS DISMISSAL

Douglas Falkner, who was fired after six months as executive director of the Redevelopment and Housing Authority, sued his former employer Thursday to reclaim his job and collect at least $1.65 million in damages.

The authority's board of commissioners committed breach of contract and defamation when it fired him Sept. 29, Falkner argued in the lawsuit filed in Chesapeake Circuit Court.

In the suit, Falkner said he is entitled to salary for the 18 months remaining on his $70,000-a-year contract; $140,000 in lost benefits; and at least $1.65 million in damages from defamatory remarks made by the authority's chairman.

Falkner, who was terminated after several lengthy, closed-door meetings by the authority, claims that the board had ``no reasonable or just cause for terminating (his) employment'' and fired him without giving Falkner the chance to correct alleged problems with his performance.

According to his termination letter, Falkner was fired because he subjected the authority to possible litigation resulting from allegations of sexual harassment, racial discrimination and an effort to pay someone to take a college class for him. Falkner has denied the allegations.

``Mr. Falkner has been caused to suffer humiliation, shame, scandal, exposure to public disgrace, injury to his good reputation,'' Falkner's attorney, Reid H. Ervin, said Thursday.

The suit alleges that authority Chairman Roland L. Thornton's public comments about why Falkner was fired were misleading and defamatory.

Thornton's remarks at a Sept. 29 board meeting referred to a clause in Falkner's contract indicating that Falkner could be fired ``in any case where, in the sole discretion of the board, Falkner's conduct poses a serious threat to the welfare of the authority . . . termination shall be immediate.''

Falkner has been badly hurt, Ervin said, ``not emotionally, but in his profession, in which he enjoyed an excellent reputation. . . . He has been defamed, and he wants to be made whole.''

``He's a good man. Mr. Falkner has a great record, and he did great things for the housing authority and was prepared to do more,'' Falkner's lawyer said. ``He may have pushed hard and stepped on some toes in the process, but he cannot imagine why they would have violated his contract and let his employees savage him.''

But Falkner's return to the Chesapeake housing authority is unlikely, officials said.

The authority put down an effort earlier this month to rehire Falkner, giving him three months worth of his $70,000 annual salary and health insurance and 30 days' use of a staff car as a severance package.

``I read it over. I can't see any basis in fact or in the law that he has a claim,'' authority attorney Robert Kinser said. ``What he said is not true, and there is no foundation for a claim here.''

While declining to comment on specific allegations in the suit, authority Vice Chairman Robert L. Samuel Jr. said he was not surprised by Falkner's lawsuit.

``Generally, I think the board of commissioners did what was appropriate,'' Samuel said. ``We had to make a difficult but correct decision, and I think it was lawful.''

The authority, whose nine-member board oversees housing opportunities for 2,100 low- and moderate-income city residents, is being managed by interim Executive Director Teresa Brewer until a permanent replacement is appointed. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo

Falkner KEYWORDS: LAWSUIT CHESAPEAKE REDEVELOPMENT AND HOUSING AUTHORITY

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