REVERSE DISCRIMINATION: Maryland, The Daily Record (Archives 2001)

"Fired Poverty-Agency Chief Sues, Alleging Reverse Discrimination: She's white, 14 codefendants black; claim of child-shaking led to her termination by UCAP in Prince George's County".
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Claim a false allegation of child abuse led to her unlawful termination, the former executive director of the private, nonprofit poverty agency UCAP (United Communities Against Poverty) in Capitol Heights, Maryland is suing her former employer for discrimination.

Doris Adams, who is white, has hired attorney Charles J. Ware of Columbia to pursue her case; claiming she was discriminated against on the basis of her race (white) and on the basis of her age and gender. All of the co-defendants are black.

Adams, who was hired as UCAP's executive director in 1991, is seeking $2 million in compensatory damages from UCAP and $1 million each from 14 co-defendants.

Among other things, Adams claims that current executive director Michael E. Young made up the allegation of child abuse in order to take her job for himself.

"Young alleged Adams grabbed and shook a boy on the [UCAP] premises," said Charles J. Ware, Adams' attorney. "It was fictitious. It didn't happen. But Young reported it to some other people on the board who were having difficulty with her and they ran with it.

"No charges were ever filed and the incident was never confirmed," Ware continued. "It's like being accused of beating your wife - it's a negative charge that sticks."

Ware said after Adams was fired, Young was made executive director of UCAP, which offers emergency food, housing counseling, senior citizen programs and other services to low-income residents of Prince George's County.

[The Daily Record, "Maryland Law", Tuesday, April 24, 2001]