Jury awards ASO Deputy over $15 million in racial discrimination lawsuit against Sheriff

BY JENNIFER CABRERA

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Today an Alachua County Jury awarded over $15 million to Alachua County Sheriff’s Deputy Kevin Davis, who filed a lawsuit alleging that he was denied promotions due to racial discrimination and was retaliated against after he filed discrimination complaints.

In their verdict, the jury found that Davis had been denied a promotion and that the denial was based on race; they also found that the Sheriff would not have denied Davis a promotion if race had not been a factor in the promotion decision. The jury found that Davis had engaged in protected activity by filing discrimination complaints and that the Sheriff took adverse employment action against him; they also found that the Sheriff would not have taken those adverse employment actions if race were not a factor.

The jury awarded $115,724 in damages to compensate for loss of wages and benefits plus $15 million for emotional pain and mental anguish.

Attorney Bobi Frank, who represented Davis, said, “The jury spoke – and they said that when you make decisions based on race and you retaliate against the one person who stood up against your disgusting behavior, you will be held accountable.”

Regarding the amount of the award, Frank said, “We asked the jury to follow the law, apply the evidence, and compensate Kevin Davis up to $8 million. The verdict shows that the jury believed Kevin Davis’ mental anguish was worth even more than that.”

This is a developing story, and we will update this as we receive additional information.

Complaint alleged racial discrimination in promotion process

In the complaint, Davis described the promotion process at ASO: eligible employees may take a promotional exam and must achieve a minimum score to be placed on the eligibility list; the top candidates are given an opportunity to interview with either the Sheriff or Undersheriff; and the Sheriff or his designee makes the final decision based on relevant experience, background, performance history, discipline history, and other job-related factors. Davis claimed that after Sheriff Clovis Watson took office in January 2021, he and other Caucasian employees were “continuously passed over for promotion and transfer because of their race” and at the time the complaint was filed, he had been third on the promotion list for lieutenant for 17 months. Davis stated that he filed an internal complaint about racially-based discrimination in promotions at ASO but said he received no response.

Davis filed charges of discrimination with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the Florida Commission on Human Relations (FCHR) in February 2022 and received a Notice of Determination from FCHR in October and a Notice of Suit Rights from the EEOC in January 2023 that give him the right to sue. A third charge of discrimination was filed in March 2024 with the EEOC, and that charge is pending within the EEOC administrative process.

Davis provided several examples of minority candidates being “promoted, reassigned, or otherwise selected over a Caucasian candidate, with the deciding factor being race.” One example was a black male who was ranked fifth on the Sergeant’s promotional list and was selected over four non-minority candidates and given a position that is highly unusual for newly-promoted Sergeants, who are usually assigned to patrol. Another black male was named as “acting” lieutenant in spite of not being one of the top five candidates and not being eligible for promotion to lieutenant at the time. Another black male was promoted to lieutenant over eligible non-minority candidates although he was not in the top five of the lieutenant promotional list. A black female was hired in spite of a “known criminal history and numerous racially motivated social media posts.”

Davis stated in the complaint that Watson required photos to be submitted with the paperwork for promotions, transfers, and special assignments and that the photo “serves no other purpose than to confirm the race of the employee.”

Davis submitted a complaint to Human Resources in August 2022 when a black male who was eighth on the promotion list was promoted to lieutenant over him. In January 2023, two white males were promoted to lieutenant, and Davis claimed that this was an act of retaliation and “an effort to conceal discriminatory intent” because both had lower test scores and less supervisory experience than Davis.