During the Union County Quorum Court meeting, two former employees of the Union County Circuit Clerk’s office came before the court, wanting to explain to the court that they felt as if they were wrongly coerced into resigning their positions due to family issues.
Angela Hall opened the floor by stating that she was “put in the position to have to choose between my daughter’s graduation or stay at work,” she said.
She explained that previously, Union County Circuit Clerk Cheryl Cochran-Wilson, had given her permission to attend her daughter’s graduation, which was in North Little Rock, on May 14, under the condition that her desk was cleared and work was completed.
“There was a lady that was going to switch with me, because Cheryl doesn’t allow two people to be off at the same time for vacation and the other lady had agreed to switch with me so that I could attend,” Hall explained.
The Wednesday prior to the graduation, Hall said that she left voicemails on Wilson’s cell and home phones, e-mail and Facebook messages, trying to make sure she “covered my bases so that she could get back in touch with me to know if this was OK to her.”
Hall said that back in April, she told Wilson about the graduation and that Wilson told her to not do anything at that time and to come back when it was closer to time and let her know.
The day of the graduation, Wilson sent Hall a text message stating that as long as her desk was clear, it was OK to leave around noon.
“So when I got to work Thursday morning to see what time she was going to let me leave, she reiterated what she said in the text message and asked where the other lady was and I told her that she had given her the vacation day,” Hall said.
She continued —
“When I told her that the other lady didn’t come in because she didn’t call us back to let us know if it was OK with her for us to switch, she just flat out told me ‘No, I’m sorry but you can’t go. I’m shorthanded and I can’t let that happen,’ not in those terms, but it was a little more harsh on me,” she said.
Hall then said that after Wilson told her this, she said that it would not be a problem getting the other woman to work, either going to pick her up or arranging for her a ride to bring her to work because the woman did not drive and Hall was her ride to work every day, which Wilson told her was not necessary.
In a separate interview, Wilson was questioned about the incident that day. Wilson explained that the other woman, identified as Hall’s sister, Janice Chapman, had come to her and asked for that day off.
“This was before we started training for the new court program, so I approved it. Then, Angela came later that afternoon and asked for the same day off and our policy is that only one person is allowed out of the office at a time and I had already approved [Chapman’s],” she said.
Wilson said she explained to Hall that it was between her and Chapman to discuss who would take that day off and advised to Hall that she should talk to Chapman about switching days possibly, and that if they came to an agreement, that would be fine with her. By the Wednesday before the ceremony, Chapman had said nothing to Wilson in regards to switching days.
She confirmed that Angela tried to call her home phone, but that she is unable to receive calls or messages from cell phones. On the morning of May 14, Wilson received a message via Facebook asking what time could she leave and that Janice had confirmed that she would be willing to swap with her. Wilson explained via text that if her work was done she would be able to leave at noon. Hall came in and within the first 10 minutes of being open, Wilson asked where Chapman was and Hall said that she had given her the vacation day.
“I said, ‘Oh no, we can only have one person out on vacation at a time, and if Janice is off, you can’t go,’” Wilson explained.
She further said that after that, Hall became a bit argumentative and the discussion soon ended. Wilson also explained that the training for the new program has been quite stressful and the office is working extremely shorthanded and that she had told her employees that until training for the new system is complete, to not ask for vacation time or days off, however if time off had been previously approved, she would honor it.
According to the employee information and policy manual, “Vacation time must be set with the clerk in advance. Only one employee will be allowed to take their vacation during any one-time period.” It goes on to say “vacation time granted will be granted upon a first-come first-serve basis in order of seniority.”
Wilson explained that Chapman never said that she would forfeit her vacation day, that it was Hall telling her that she had agreed to it.
“I considered that since she told me I couldn’t get off work, that I could leave and just not come back, but either way, it’s gonna look like I quit and which, in essence, I feel like I was made to quit or resign, which I did. My daughter and family is more important,” Hall said.
Hall cited other incidents in which she felt she was treated wrongly, namely two write-ups that she received. Hall explained that she was written up for wearing shorts to work just a week before her unplanned resignation.
“I am a healthy woman and I don’t wear shorts. My pants were below my knee, I would say three inches,” she said.
Wilson explained in response to the write-up concerning Hall wearing shorts that she had been in court that day and that Hall was wearing bermuda style shorts rather than capri-pants. After questioning Hall about it, she said that Hall told her that she had spilled something on her and the shorts were all she could find. Wilson then advised her that she would have to write her up due to the violation of the policy which states simply, no skorts and no shorts.
In the employee information and policy manual, the pants policy states that “slacks are appropriate, but no ‘stretch’ pants unless they are covered to the bottom of the derriere with an over blouse or over sweater, no stirrup pants, no leggings, no capri pants.”
Wilson also said that she had written Hall up several times due to various violations of policy and according to the shorts write-up, Wilson advised Hall that she would be placed on probation and that this write-up was a third strike and if another violation of policy occurred, she would be terminated.
Another incident involved Hall being written up after a medical emergency in June 2014.
“I got sick and woke up one day on my kitchen floor, so I had to call 911 for myself to get somebody to come get me because I was dizzy. By the time I got out of the ER and called her to let her know what was going on, the first thing she said to me when I called was ‘about time,’” she said.
She explained to Wilson that it was doctors orders that she should stay off work for a few days and that Wilson told her that she should stay off work until the following Monday.
“When I got to work that day, I was written up and docked a day’s pay, when I was owed all of my personal time or sick time, but I was docked a day of sick time for that reason,” she said.
Wilson confirmed that Hall had taken the sick time and it was recorded in a log that Hall was off during that time, however, the write-up that Hall spoke of could unfortunately not be located at the time because Wilson said that Hall’s 2014 personnel file has been missing for some time now.
Wilson explained that while employed, Hall took quite a bit of sick leave for herself.
“Last year, she took several weeks off and I assisted to her sick leave. She was not docked for that, however, if she came in tardy, which she did, she was docked for that, but as far as her being off sick, she was not,” Wilson said.
She explained that she tells her employees that if they have a doctors appointment, to take it because she wants her employees healthy.
“I will just count it against sick leave,” she said.
Hall also noted that there have been other problems in the office.
“I know a lady that the week before, had a miscarriage in the office and she waited until the end of the day to go to the ER because she was afraid to say anything to Mrs. Cheryl about leaving, because she gives you a hard time and it’s just not fair. There’s a lot of other complaints and it’s a hostile work environment,” she said.
Wilson responded —
“I’ve always felt our environment was good — I explain the policy when they come on and tell them to ask questions if they don’t understand it and they sign that they have read the policy. I try to be as accommodating to my employees as I can, but I still have an office to run. I wish I could give every employee the time off when they ask, but I just can’t do it,” she said.
In response to the allegations of an employee having a miscarriage in the office, Wilson stated that it was “news to her.”
Hall explained that since her employment in 2011, she has never been written up for work performance and that she has gotten compliments on her work, which Wilson confirmed.
“Angela was very aware of the policy, because at one time, I made her my chief deputy. Part of her duties as chief deputy was to enforce the policy. The reason I had to demote her from that position was because she violated the policy,” Wilson explained.
Hall said in light of the resignation, she is now without a job and has two other children at home to care for and she feels that she is “floating because I don’t have a job because I felt I was made to quit or resign and I don’t feel that is fair.”
“She is the boss and she feels entitled to do the things that she does, but medical and family things that happen are not the same. One minute, she is happy go lucky, the next, she is like a bear coming out of the woods like someone has messed with her. You learn to deal with it and that’s what a lot of us in that office have done. I just wanted to make everyone aware of the situation that is going on down there,” Hall said.
Krishana Andrews attended the meeting as well, and spoke briefly, explaining that she had a daughter in ICU and that Wilson refused to grant her time off to care for her child.
“I was in court one day and she only had one day of vacation left and wanted to know if she could take off that day to take her daughter to the dentist. I told her that she had asked to be off that next week and that if she took that day off, she would be forfeiting the day next week and she said that’s OK,” Wilson said.
Wilson explained that once again she told Andrews that if she took off that day to take her daughter, she would not be able to take off the next week, which Andrews agreed to.
“Next week came, she was angry. I explained that she said it was OK and that she had exhausted her time off and she left yelling that nobody was going to tell her when she could be off and when she couldn’t,” she said.
When asked if she had knowledge of Andrew’s child being in intensive care, Wilson stated “I have no idea if she was or if she wasn’t in ICU. I don’t know that she was — I did not receive anything saying that she was or she wasn’t. I just know that she went to the dentist the week before.”
She also explained that when discussing the matter with Andrews, she asked if Andrews wanted to take the whole day off to take her daughter to the appointment and Andrews said yes.
Andrews turned in her resignation on Sept. 17, 2014.
The News-Times reached out to Hall and Andrews for additional comments but no response was given by press time.