The personnel file on Carla Craddock's 10 years with Cobb County contained nothing but positive reviews, consistent merit raises and paperwork on her promotion to budget director —- until last fall.

Then, after a three-month flurry of memos, she was fired by County Manager David Hankerson.

Hankerson said in the memos the firing was for performance reasons that included missing deadlines to assemble documentation for the county budget and mishandling contract management.

There were no financial improprieties.

The 40-year-old Craddock, one of four African Americans to lead a department in Cobb government, says it was for racial and gender reasons that include rejecting "unwanted sexual innuendos" from Hankerson, who also is black.

She has filed two complaints against him with the county's Human Resources Department and two with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which enforces laws against employment discrimination. The federal commission can take action against government only on age or wage discrimination.

Craddock filed the first EEOC complaint on Aug. 9 while out for two months on what she characterized as a "stress" leave.

The second, filed Jan. 14 after she was told she would be fired, claimed the imminent firing was retaliatory.

The law firm hired to assess Cobb's legal exposure to the EEOC allegations said Craddock's Aug. 9 claims should be dismissed because they can't be proved. It has not filed a reply to Craddock's Jan. 14 claims.

A separate lawyer hired by Cobb to investigate whether the county could be liable for Craddock's internal allegations reported the claims couldn't be substantiated. "The weight of evidence does not support Ms. Craddock's allegations of harassment and retaliation against [Mr.] Hankerson ... and her allegations of sexual harassment," lawyer Read Gignilliat wrote in a Feb. 14 report to the county.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution obtained the documents in Craddock's case and the EEOC complaints from Cobb County through the state Open Records law.

Other EEOC complaints

In the last three years, 11 county employees, including Craddock, have filed EEOC complaints against Cobb government.

Four are pending, one was settled and in nine instances, the EEOC elected not to pursue the charges, according to county records.

Hankerson told the lawyer that comments cited by Craddock as "sexual innuendo" were the result of her misunderstanding his words.

County spokesman Robert Quigley said the Craddock complaints are the first filed against Hankerson, a retired federal employee who has been the county's top nonelected administrator since 1993.

Hankerson, 62, earns $239,731 as the day-to-day operations director for Cobb government, supervising a senior staff of 27 who oversee the work of about 3,000 people.

Craddock earned about $85,000 supervising a nine-person department also responsible for internal audits throughout Cobb government.

Quigley said Hankerson would not comment for this article.

Cobb Commission Chairman Sam Olens —- Hankerson's boss —- would not comment because the commission is set to hear on March 31 Craddock's appeal of her firing, Quigley said.

Craddock also declined to comment because of the appeal.

Her allegations mark the second time this year that one of Cobb's top administrators has been accused of sexual harassment in the workplace.

While the claims against Hankerson involve comments, allegations made to the judges and the county against former Superior Court Administrator Howard "Skip" Chesshire reportedly involve at least one overt sexual act on his part and a request for a woman to perform another.

Some residents worried

Chesshire, the top appointed officer for the Superior Court judges, abruptly announced his retirement Feb. 20, after an anonymous letter was delivered to the judges and the County Commission about his treatment of female employees.

The law firm hired to assess Cobb's legal exposure in the Chesshire case has not filed a report.

The charges in both instances have some taxpayers worried about what is going on at top levels of Cobb government and the judiciary.

"I think there has to be some fact-finding," said 71-year-old Billy Mitchell of Marietta.

"I think you want to give someone the benefit of the doubt, but it concerns me that there may be some truth in some of it, and we need to know."

Said Kim Davis, a 36-year-old freelance photographer from Acworth: "If it is happening, that is unacceptable and should be investigated. Also, I want to know that women feel safe coming forth."

Sensitivity training

Cobb thus far has spent nearly $50,000 on the two investigations, Quigley said.

Reports filed by Gignilliat, the county-paid lawyer investigating Craddock's internal complaints, do not specifically cover every allegation she made.

In one incident Craddock cites, the report indicates that not all witnesses were interviewed.

In another, the report relies on "a longtime employee," who is not named, to judge whether Craddock was treated differently by Hankerson than her predecessor, a white woman.

Gignilliat also reported that witnesses, when they were present, did not corroborate Craddock's allegations, and Craddock says no one was present when the alleged incidents of sexual harassment occurred.

Anne Coughlin, a University of Virginia law professor whose specialties include gender law, said hiring outside lawyers to determine whether Cobb could be sued successfully is not enough of a response.

"The investigation should go beyond basic legal specifications," she said.

"Two cases may not make a pattern or may not make a culture, but they certainly suggest the county has a problem and needs to figure out what to do."

The county commissioners are reviewing Cobb's policies on sensitivity training, now provided only during orientation for new employees.

The county may consider requiring training at regular intervals, said Quigley, the county spokesman.

Hankerson last went through the training when he became county manager in 1993, but he often gives the opening remarks at sensitivity training sessions, Quigley said.

A complicating factor in Craddock's circumstances —- and one she raised in her county complaints —- was that as a department head, her allegations against Hankerson had to be initially investigated by the county Human Resources Department, which also reports to Hankerson.

Quigley said the county recognized the potential for conflict and was looking at whether alternatives might be created for department heads who want to file complaints. "We've never had this happen with a department head before," he said.

COMPLAINT COUNTDOWN

12,510: Sexual harassment charges filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission nationally.

3,515: Sexual harassment complaints pursued by the EEOC or another agency. (Does not include civil actions by the parties or settled cases.)

34: Employment discrimination complaints filed against government agencies with offices in Cobb.

4: All EEOC complaints filed against Cobb government.

Source: Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Cobb County government