Perez, who spent eight years working for the city as a certified Level 1 court clerk and certified State of Texas court interpreter, said in a previous interview with the Tribune that she “enjoyed her job,” but became frustrated after being placed in a front lobby area of city hall, a move that she was told would be temporary.

After the move, Perez claimed she was treated differently than the other clerks, including having to ask to use the restroom and being criticized about the way she answered the phone, which she said she had never had complaints about from callers.

“There were a couple of people there that would continuously go out to smoke, five or six times a day,” she said. “And I had to ask to go to the restroom.”

After a Sept. 22 meeting where she said she was told by City Administrator Ryan Kelley that the council and mayor were “picking on her” for, among other things, not being at her desk enough and frequently taking time off, Perez resigned three days later.

“It became clear then that I am being singled out,” she wrote of the meeting in her resignation letter, addressed to Kelley.

Later in the letter, she stated “I am no longer able to work in this environment.”

In a Dec. 2 interview with the Tribune, Perez said at first, she was somewhat hesitant to go through with filing the complaint after meeting with the EEOC.

The Commission requires that a complaint be filed within 180 days of when the events took place.

But after getting support from her family members who assured her she was doing the right thing, Perez went ahead and filed the complaint.

“The situation happened just the way I told them (the EEOC),” she said. “I’m not going to let this happen to anyone else. Whoever is responsible needs to pay for it. Whoever else comes along, they will do the exact same thing to them, and they need to know this is wrong, and they shouldn’t do this to people.”

In the complaint, dated Oct. 7, Perez lists the earliest date discrimination took place as Oct. 1, 2008 and the most recent as September 25, 2009.

She states in the complaint, “I was subjected to harassment by Ryan Kelley, City Administrator on a constant basis which ultimately led to my forced resignation on September 25, 2009. I was the only Hispanic Assistant Court Clerk and I was treated differently than the two non-Hispanic Assistant Court Clerks. I was the only clerk that had to get permission to leave my desk; I was watched on a constant basis by Mr. Kelly or Ms. Debra Brent, City Secretary, and I was harassed by being questioned by Mr. Kelley about the City Council, Ms. Brent and Mr. Kelley himself not knowing what I was doing in my position. I believe that I have been discriminated against because of my national origin, Hispanic, in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended.”

Kelley did not return phone calls seeking comment.

Bill Helfand, an attorney with the Texas Municipal League – Intergovernmental Risk Pool hired to defend the city against the claim, said that the city had yet to submit a response to the EEOC.

“The city will cooperate with any investigation the EEOC wants to pursue,” he said. “Sometime in the near future we’ll submit a response to the EEOC.”

The EEOC gets thousands of complaints a year in the city of Houston, Helfand said, most of which end up being resolved with the government agency finding no evidence of discrimination.

“Just because somebody is a certain gender, race or religion and something happens, it doesn’t mean it happened because of their gender, race or religion,” he said.

Perez said she is not as interested in being compensated as she is in seeking fairness.

“I know I could sue and get money, but that’s not what I want,” Perez said. “I want justice.”

An item is listed on the agenda of a Dec. 8 regular meeting of the Magnolia City Council to receive legal advice in executive session and take possible action regarding Perez’s complaint.

To view a meeting agenda, visit cityofmagnolia.com.

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