Commission to review whether to suspend indicted state House member

State Rep. Sharon Henderson’s future as a state lawmaker is under review after she was charged in federal court last month with defrauding the government during the coronavirus pandemic.

A commission appointed by Gov. Brian Kemp will review Henderson’s indictment and determine whether she should be suspended from office.

The commission, made up of Republican Attorney General Chris Carr, Democratic Senate Minority Leader Harold Jones and Republican Speaker Pro Tem Jan Jones, will provide a recommendation to the governor by Thursday, although it could request an extension if needed.

Prosecutors say Henderson, D-Covington, applied for federal pandemic unemployment benefits under false pretenses.

She allegedly wrote in her application for the program, which gave cash assistance to those who lost their jobs because of the COVID-19 pandemic, that she was working for the Henry County School District as a substitute teacher through March 2020 and that she was not allowed to return to work “for risk of exposure to COVID-19.” But prosecutors said she had not worked there since 2018.

Henderson pleaded not guilty in December in federal court and was released on bond. She was present in the Georgia House chamber when the 2026 legislative session began Monday and was present again on Thursday but absent for the remainder of the week.

According to employment records obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Henderson and Henry County disagreed on what constituted her last day of employment. The district terminated her from their substitute teacher rolls in February 2019, but she claimed she was employed through December of that year, according to school district records.

Records show the school district officially terminated Henderson because she did not work enough hours to remain active within the substitute teacher system.

The district provided the AJC with copies of Henderson’s W-2 tax forms for 2018 and 2022, but there were no W-2s for 2019 or 2020.

Henderson is accused of improperly collecting $17,811 in pandemic unemployment benefits during the lockdown, which began in March 2020. There is no evidence she ever earned that much from the school system when she worked there. Her W-2 showed she only earned $425 from Henry County schools in 2018.

A representative from Henderson’s declined to comment. House Democratic Leader Carolyn Hugley also declined.

A second state lawmaker was also charged with unemployment insurance earlier this month. Karen Bennett, a Democrat who represented Stone Mountain, resigned from her House seat before the announcement of the charges.