Overview
• One said a co-worker grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her during an argument.
• They say they were punished for carrying out the police chief’s decision when trying to help a poorly performing employee improve.
• The city has until August 10 to file its response to the lawsuit.
Three women with civilian jobs at the Fayetteville Police Department sued the city in June, asserting that the police chief and other managers treated them unfairly.
They listed a litany of alleged wrongs. Incidents described in the lawsuit present a picture of a toxic workplace. Two say they were discriminated against because they are white.
All three said that when they tried to help a troubled employee improve her job performance, they were penalized for using the improvement program that the police chief required them to use.
One of the employees said during a dispute with a co-worker, the co-worker put her hands on the plaintiff’s shoulders while she was seated at her desk and shook her. The legal complaint said “no meaningful corrective action” was taken after it was reported.
The city has until Monday to file its response to the lawsuit.
In a statement to CityView, the city said its attorneys are addressing the lawsuit.
“The City is aware of the lawsuit, and its attorneys are currently handling the matter,” it said. “As the claims are now before the court, we are unable to comment further at this time. The City of Fayetteville takes these matters seriously and remains committed to being an equal opportunity employer and to the well-being of all employees.”
The employees who filed the suit are Deanna M. Husk, administrative services manager; Jessica S. Purdie, records manager; and Lindsey N. Workman, records supervisor.
In addition to the city, the women sued police Chief Roberto Bryan, Assistant Police Chief C. Todd Joyce, and Sonja Long, a records supervisor in the department’s Central Records Unit.
As of July 21, Husk, Purdie, and Workman were still employed by the city, a spokesperson said. The lawsuit alleged Husk was put on unpaid leave on June 1—three days before the lawsuit was filed—while the police department considered whether to fire her.
Lawsuit: Employee Faced Hostility, Retaliation
The women filed their lawsuit on June 4 in U.S. District Court.
In the 95-page complaint, the women alleged harassment; retaliation; battery emotional distress; a hostile work environment; discrimination based on age, race, and gender; violation of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA); targeted surveillance, and violations of their Constitutional rights.
They said the city failed to follow policies intended to protect employees from retaliation and other hostile work conditions. “Rather than receiving protection, Plaintiffs were met with escalating retaliation and adverse employment action,” they said.
According to some of their allegations:
When Purdie was on FMLA leave from November 2025 to January 2026, Long made changes that undermined Purdie’s authority, and the new practices disrupted work and fostered backlogs.
Purdie said that when she returned to work, “Instead of being restored to an equivalent position with equivalent authority and conditions, Purdie faced continuing undermining, hostility, retaliatory scrutiny, and formal discipline.”
In another matter, the three women—Workman, Purdie and Husk—tried to help a poorly performing employee in the Central Records Unit. The employee’s job duties included taking reports of crimes via telephone, creating and completing records of information, and providing police reports to the public.
The lawsuit listed incidents in which the employee did the job poorly. Workman had coached and provided guidance to the employee, the suit said. At the time, Workman answered to Purdie, and “Husk exercised higher-level management oversight.”
When the managers wanted to discipline the employee for her poor performance, Bryan, the police chief, “directed or approved” a lesser approach called a performance improvement plan, the lawsuit said.
Bryan later criticized the plan he had mandated and the staff who used it, the lawsuit said.
The plan for the troubled employee was used against Husk in a performance evaluation in January in which she was found to be deficient, the lawsuit said. Prior to that, “she had received satisfactory mid-cycle evaluations and annual evaluations at or above expectations.”
The situation with the troubled employee “became the pivot point,” the lawsuit said. After Workman, Purdie, and Husk documented the employee’s “performance and attempted to enforce ordinary accountability, Defendants turned the process back against Plaintiffs, accusing them of unfairness, inadequate supervision, or improper documentation.”
Employee Put on Leave, Investigated
Husk’s poor performance review in January included other matters, such as management of grants programs. In the lawsuit, she said they were “pretextual,” outside of her control, based on things that happened before she was hired, or had already been addressed.
Husk appealed the review, the lawsuit said. Following the review, she was accused of telling another worker that the troubled Central Records Unit was the reason for her poor performance with the police chief.
Bryan put Husk on leave with pay on January 30, and the department began investigating her, the complaint said. Six weeks later, the allegations were ruled “unfounded.”
Husk returned to work February 16. In the following days, the suit said, she relayed to the human resources department and Bryan concerns that details of the investigation against her were leaked to other employees, and the she faced racial discrimination, a hostile work environment, and disparate discipline.
Grabbed by the Shoulders and Shaken
Workman said she was harassed and bullied since she joined the police department in 2023, first in the 911 call center, and later when she transferred to the Central Records Unit.
On November 7, 2025, the complaint said, Workman and Long, a records supervisor, had an argument. “Long intentionally placed her hands on Workman’s shoulders and shook her while Workman was seated at her desk,” according to the lawsuit.
“Plaintiffs allege the incident was reported but no meaningful corrective action was imposed on Long,” the lawsuit said.
Meanwhile, Workman learned in December the police chief was unhappy with the performance improvement plan he had Workman implement for the troubled Central Records Unit employee. According to the lawsuit, Long told people that Bryan said everyone involved in that employee’s performance plan “would be accountable or would pay.”
On March 31, Long complained to Husk about Workman and Purdie, the lawsuit said, about how Workman treated Long, and that Purdie was giving Workman favorable treatment. This led to a formal investigation of Workman, the lawsuit said, accusing her of intimidation and creating a hostile work environment.
The investigation led to a police captain on May 19 telling Husk that Long and Workman would be reprimanded, and Purdie would be cited for failure to supervise them, the lawsuit said. The captain allegedly said Purdie “was the issue.”
The captain wanted Husk to sign-off quickly on the investigation’s conclusions, but she refused because she wanted time to read it first, the lawsuit said.
“Husk’s refusal to rubber-stamp discipline without reviewing the full file created a new risk of retaliation against her and confirmed that the City was attempting to force one Plaintiff to ratify discipline against the others,” the lawsuit said.
Leave Without Pay, Lawsuit Filed
On June 1, the police chief issued Husk a written consideration of dismissal letter and placed her on leave without pay, according to the lawsuit.
Bryan’s letter “relied heavily” on how Husk handled the performance improvement plan for the troubled Central Records Unit employee, the complaint said.
Husk, Workman, and Purdie filed their lawsuit against the city three days later, on June 4.
Senior reporter Paul Woolverton can be reached at pwoolverton@cityviewnc.com.
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