Dolton, Illinois, Mayor Tiffany Henyard was served with another lawsuit on Thursday after a former employee claimed he was wrongfully terminated.
Former Maintenance Manager Dwayne Thrash alleged that he refused to help Henyard and her assistant Keith Freeman fire another employee, FOX 32 reported. Soon after, Thrash said he was accused of workplace violations that occurred while he was on vacation and was fired.
“Ever since Henyard became Mayor of the Village of Dolton and Supervisor of Thornton Township, she and her closest allies within the Village of Dolton and Thornton Township, including Freeman, have terminated the employment of several individuals they feel pose a political threat to Henyard and her public image, and/or who run afoul of Henyard and/or Freeman by defying their wishes,” the lawsuit read.
Thrash alleged in his complaint that in 2023, Henyard and Freeman asked him to help fire Thornton Township Trustees of Schools’ attorney Sarie E. Winner and replace her with Del Galdo Law Group LLC, Freeman’s preferred law firm.
Thrash refused and didn’t attend the special meeting that would make the change, according to the suit. Because he did not help with her “schemes and conspiracies,” the alleged plan failed.
“In response thereto, Thrash told Henyard and Freeman something to the effect of ‘you want to fire everyone in the office and I’m not going to go along with that,’” the lawsuit read.
After taking a scheduled vacation, Thrash was informed that he was being terminated effective immediately for misconduct and insubordination, according to his complaint. The notice of termination stated that he failed to “punch in and out appropriately” and was disciplined for “insubordination and unsatisfactory work performance,” despite it being vacation time when both infractions occurred.
The lawsuit alleged others were also fired for failing to follow Henyard or Freeman.
Thrash is requesting that three allegedly false write-ups be expunged from his record along with statutory and compensatory damages for his termination.
Fox News Digital reached out to Henyard’s office for a comment.
Henyard, the self-proclaimed “super mayor” of a small town south of Chicago, has made national headlines over ongoing probes into her spending. In addition to two federal investigations against her, Henyard also faces another lawsuit from a former employee alleging she was forced to work from her car and was eventually fired.
“People have really been damaged by this administration,” former Thornton Township Human Resources manager Sandra Tracy told Fox News program “America’s Newsroom.” “My personal situation is that I was trying very hard to get paid, and I couldn’t get anybody to respond to me — not to call, text or email.”
Fox News. Joseph A. Wulfsohn contributed to this report.
