A former Baltimore County employee will not get to ask the top administrator who fired her about his alleged romantic relationship with a female co-worker, a federal judge has ruled.
Miriam Grice, a former county claims manager, filed a $1 million wrongful-termination lawsuit against the county after she allegedly caught chief administrator Fred Homan in an “awkward scene” with assistant county attorney Suzanne Berger.
Grice, 55, was demoted, twice suspended and ultimately fired after encountering Homan and Berger in an “illicit” after-hours moment in April 2005, according to the lawsuit.
But U.S. District Judge Frederick Motz said questions about the alleged office affair will not be permitted during the information-gathering stage known as discovery, according to court filings. The decision is a “harmful blow” to the lawsuit, Grice?s attorney, Kathleen Cahill, wrote in a memo to Motz.
“This is a serious case about the demise of a woman?s career,” Cahill wrote. “There is no intent to resort to smear tactics or salaciousness.”
Motz, who indicated late last month that he may reconsider his decision, suggested Grice?s claims would have merit only if Homan or Berger abused workplace power to foster their relationship.
But even if an office romance exists, county attorney John Beverungen said Grice must prove she was treated differently because she is a woman.
“They didn?t like her, so her story goes, because she knew something that would expose them,” Beverungen wrote. “But if a man had interrupted the defendants? forbidden relationship, that would be okay with the defendants?”
Motz dismissed other portions of Grice?slawsuit until she has exhausted separate proceedings with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
County officials and Cahill, who has not offered specifics on Grice?s encounter with Homan and Berger, declined additional comment.
