A former Perry County employee has filed a lawsuit against the Perry County Commission, alleging she was fraudulently denied due process and wrongfully terminated from her position as a solid waste clerk.
Shemaryel Essex filed the complaint March 17 in Perry County Circuit Court, seeking $450,000 in damages across three counts: fraud, breach of contract, and a federal civil rights claim under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. The case has been assigned to Judge Donald L. McMillan Jr.
Essex, who was hired by the Commission on or about Sept. 5, 2022, alleges the chain of events leading to her dismissal began on Feb. 18, 2025, when she was involved in an after-hours confrontation with Beverly Gordon at the Perry County Courthouse. Gordon had been contracted by the Commission in December 2024 to handle administration and personnel matters.
According to the complaint, the meeting was called at the direction of Commission Chairman Albert Turner Jr. and became heated, resulting in physical contact. The complaint states the altercation occurred after the plaintiff’s workday had ended, and that Gordon continued to pursue Essex with hostilities as she was being escorted from the building by fellow employees DeAndre Kimbrough and Valerie Lockett.
The following day, Feb. 19, 2025, Gordon suspended Essex. A pre-termination hearing was held Feb. 21, after which Gordon dismissed Essex for “Group Two offenses of fighting, insubordination, abusive conduct, and conduct unbecoming of a county employee,” according to the complaint.
The complaint raises questions about Gordon’s authority to take such action, noting that only the Commission itself has the power to hire and fire employees. Gordon signed the termination letter as “County Interim.”
Essex filed an appeal to the Perry County Personnel Review Board on Feb. 26, 2025, as provided for in the county’s Employee Policies and Procedures Manual. But the complaint alleges the board was essentially a sham proceeding.
According to the filing, the Personnel Review Board was “defunct and non-existent” at the time of Essex’s dismissal. The published board members at the time — Emily Kynard, Jamaal Turner, Sherman Norfleet, Joe Mann, and Florence Lauderdale — were apparently not serving. The complaint alleges that on or about March 7, 2025, Turner wrote letters of appointment to Tyrone Brown, Crystal King, and Carolyn Walter Curry to reconstitute the board. Marsha Ford was also appointed, though her method of appointment is unclear.
Of the board, only Joe Mann had been a previously appointed member, the complaint states. Carolyn Walter Curry, who chaired the hearing, is alleged to be an employee of Chairman Turner.
The appeal hearing was held March 21, 2025. The complaint alleges that board member Crystal King conducted a thorough examination of the Commission’s witnesses, but was then forced to leave when the board retired to deliberate and did not participate in the vote. The complaint does not specify who removed King or under what authority.
The remaining four members — Curry, Ford, Mann, and Brown — voted to uphold Essex’s dismissal. The complaint argues this violated the county’s own manual, which requires a five-member board.
The complaint also alleges procedural irregularities, including that board members were given four-year terms rather than the three-year staggered terms required by the personnel manual; that members did not take an oath of office as required; that the personnel officer was never identified as required; and that Curry, who chaired the hearing and works for the chairman, also served as clerk of the board, a role designated for the personnel officer.
The complaint further alleges that no disciplinary action was taken against Gordon for her role in the altercation, and that Essex filed a workers’ compensation claim for injuries she said she sustained.
Essex is represented by attorney Robert H. Turner Sr. of Turner Law in Marion. The Perry County Commission was served March 19. Attorney Prince Chestnut of the Chestnut, Sanders & Sanders firm in Selma has entered an appearance on behalf of the Commission.
