Litigation Legacy
El Campo lawsuit not first filed by former CDC chief
By BRENDA SOMMER news1@leader-news.com

EARL JOY

The City Development Corp. of El Campo has been sued by former Executive Director Earl Joy, who alleges he was forced to resign due to age discrimination.

Joy, who also sued his previous employer for wrongful termination, filed suit Sept. 7 in the 329th District Court in Wharton against both the CDC and the city of El Campo.

Joy resigned Sept. 11, 2006 following his annual evaluation.

He requested unemployment compensation from the Texas Workforce Commission, but was the Texas Workforce Commission, but was

denied.

Joy also filed a discrimination complaint Jan. 5 with the Texas Commission on Human Rights and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, alleging the make-up of the board changed to younger members and one made "ageist" comments about him.

In the current lawsuit, Joy restates grievances contained in his initial complaint: that the make-up of the board changed and "essentially consisted of individuals that were significantly younger than I."

He alleges board member J.J. Croix began making "ageist" comments starting in the summer of 2006. Joy also alleges his 2006 performance evaluation was "fraught with inaccuracies," and said he had to resign or be terminated.

In mid-November, the

CDC board hired Chandra Spenrath to CDC board hired Chandra Spenrath to

replace Joy. She holds a bachelor's degree from Texas A&M University, has extensive marketing and sales experience and also is the wife of El Campo Mayor Phillip Spenrath.

Joy's lawsuit states Chandra Spenrath was "depicted by the Board as 'enthusiastic' and 'intelligent,' two code words for 'young' and 'youthful.'" He also alleges Spenrath was "significantly less qualified."

Board attorney Ronny Collins said he doesn't see enthusiasm and intelligence as "code words" for youth.

"Obviously we deny that there was any intent to offend him," Collins said. "I think Mr. Joy has an unfortunate misunderstanding of what he's been told."

Joy's attorney is Peter Costea of Houston.

"I really don't have any comment," Costea said Thursday. "Everything I would have to say is what the lawsuit says."

Costea said the lawsuit is the usual outcome of EEOC and Texas Commission on Human Rights complaints.

"It's very seldom they take a case to court," Costea said. "The rest, they give the permission to sue. That's about all that happened here. There were no findings, all they do is file your charge, they ask for a statement, then that's the end of the story."

But Collins said the lawsuit came because Joy's claims to the EEOC and TCHR were denied.

"The EEOC, they have a process whereby a employee can make a claim and there can be some resolution of that claim administratively, and the employee can accept or reject that," Collins said. "He was denied in that process and this is his right to go file a lawsuit, which anybody has a right to do."

Joy's tenure in El Campo saw questionable success: Only a handful of major projects took place, but none yielded a significant number of jobs, and one project - Texas Biodiesel Corp.'s proposal to build a plant at Hillje - has yet to be financed. That company was asked to refund a $215,000 loan due to failure to begin its project. The CDC is suing to recover those funds, which Texas Biodiesel has failed to remit.

Joy also brought the failed Engineered Particle Systems project to the CDC, which gave a $33,000 property in the Meisel Industrial Park to the company, upon which it built a building.

The company never found a buyer for its product, and the building and land are now for sale. The CDC will not recover any funds from that sale, since the land was given free and clear contingent upon EPS building its facility, which did occur.

Prior to being hired in El Campo, Joy was executive director of the Business Development Corporation of Vernon, Texas, from June 1994 to June 2002. Joy sued that city and its BDC after being let go, citing wrongful termination (see related story, below.)

"I really don't know if the board was aware of that or not" when Joy was hired, Collins said.

Bobby Perez, who was on the CDC board when Joy was hired in 2002, said he doesn't recall the subject of Joy's complaint against Vernon's BDC coming up during the hiring process.

"No, not that I can recall," Perez said. "I don't remember that being brought forth, that he was in litigation with his previous employer."

But Perez noted employers are leery about what they say about past employees.

"Previous employers are very cautious on what they say, for that very fact: You're afraid to get sued," Perez said.