City Commission to discuss terms of Marshall’s resignation in May 20 meeting
BY JENNIFER CABRERA
One of the items on the agenda of the afternoon portion of the May 20 Gainesville City Commission meeting is a contract amendment for Director of Equity & Inclusion Teneeshia Marshall, who has submitted her resignation. The amendment includes severance pay including 20 weeks of base pay and 20 weeks of the City’s contributions to health insurance, life insurance, and retirement, plus payment for unused and accrued paid time off. Marshall’s original 2018 contract only provided for 20 weeks of severance pay; the additional payments are not listed.
Marshall will also be paid as a temporary employee for the month of June at her current rates plus the current rates for the City’s contributions to health insurance, life insurance, and retirement. This period is to provide transition assistance as requested by an Interim Equal Opportunity Director.
A “Retirement Correction” paragraph states that the City failed to establish a retirement plan as was required by Marshall’s 2018 contract. The original contract said she would “decide the percentage of her base salary that she desires to have contributed/deferred to such plans and the City will implement her decision… by, among other things, deducting appropriate equal proportionate amounts each pay period.” Since the plan was never established, these contributions were not deducted from her pay – i.e., she received her full salary in her paycheck. In the contract amendment, the City agrees to establish a retirement plan and contribute “$59,745.31 which represents the Equal Opportunity Director’s contributions and the City’s contributions that would have been made” if the retirement plan had been set up when she started her employment with the City.
The contract amendment also includes a “Covenant not to sue” that prohibits Marshall from instituting “any action or suit at law or in equity against the City.”
And yet in her interview on the local propaganda station she claimed it “wasn’t about the money.”
Hah! It’s ALWAYS about the money. Will the hypocrisy ever end?
Nice the city is also including a “PMA” clause as well. What are they worried about?
1. Why is she resigning? Because she was
“Manspoke” to by a woman commissioner??—2. What does a “director of equity & inclusion” do and is that position necessary?—-3. She
Shouldn’t get any extra retirement money because
“She got her full salary in her paycheck”. & 4. What, if
Anything, has she achieved in her 2 year tenure???
I am not a Gville resident so the money does not come directly from me but if I was a resident would take issue with a lot of this. First, the severance pay, why is the City paying severance pay when the individual is resigning? Second, the retirement contributions, I can see the City paying the matching contributions they should have made but why are they paying hers? If they “forgot” to deduct the contributions she could have opened her own IRA since she technically was not covered by an employer plan. Lastly, the remaining payments (insurance, etc.) if it was not part of the original contract, which both parties voluntarily signed, it should not be added. The City is in a big enough financial hole now, can they really afford it?
I’m confused… Paragraph 1 of the above indicates that the city has an Office of Equity and Inclusion. Paragraph 2 implies that the city also has an Office of Equal Opportunity. Both offices are managed by a Director.
Do we need both ?? Two highly paid “Directors” and their respective staff ?? Seems to me that if the Director of the Office of Equal Opportunity is doing his/her (sorry… gender specific pronouns) job, that then, we are also, by definition, meeting Equity (another misused word) and Inclusion requirements.
Would someone help me out with this one… ?
It’s the same person. They changed her title to Director of Equity & Inclusion, but the contract still says Equal Opportunity Director.
Why did they change her title and what’s the difference between the two titles? Why do we need this office at all if we are all created equal?…is it to
Perpetuate inequality and to perpetuate divisiveness? Sounds like a BS liberal position and
One that needs to be eliminated…I will ask again…
What did she accomplish in her two years except get
Paid a lot?
First the differences need to be shown.
Equality means each individual or group of people is given the same resources or opportunities.
Equity recognizes each person has different circumstances and allocates the same resources and opportunities needed to reach an equal outcome.
Put in a different way, it’s like me playing basketball against LeBron, with both of his hands tied behind his back, playing with a blindfold, all while playing on one leg. That’s probably the only chance of tying him in a basketball game.🤣
In other words, the city of Gainesville isn’t concerned about being an “equal opportunity” employer – they want to make sure they are an “equity driven” employer. That is until it comes down to pay and compensation.
It’s like giving someone a handicap in golf…
Shouldn’t the best qualified person get the job?
I want the best qualified doctor operating on me… so, the office assures that some people
Who are not qualified, regardless of race, gets
the job??