COA committee investigates wrongdoing allegations

The Terrebonne Council on Aging personnel committee has launched an investigation into allegations of discrimination, corruption and abuse of position made against Executive Director Diana Edmonson by a former employee who was fired from her job earlier this month.

According to email sent to the COA Board of Directors, the Louisiana Ethic’s Board, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the governor’s office and other locations, Janell Brierley claimed that Edmonson displayed prejudice against overweight people and fired individuals because of their size. The former employee went on to allege that the executive director abused her position by having people work after hours and perform tasks at her home.

Brierley had been a nutrition and transportation supervisor with the agency for 10 months when she was dismissed from her job on March 2, for what human resources manager Jane Walker described as an inability to learn necessary software and perform the job at a satisfactory level.

COA personnel committee members conducted an initial meeting in executive session last Wednesday, where they were introduced to claims made by Brierley. On Friday, the panel conducted a second meeting that mostly comprised a more than 3-hour executive session during which Brierley spelled out her claims.

Committee Chairman Carroll McKey said that the examining body would get its own documentation together and conduct another meeting at a yet-to-be determined time. During that meeting, McKey said Brierley is expected to present witnesses to back up her allegations.

“At this time, we need to get more detailed information as a committee,” McKey said. “We need to do more research and fact finding for details.”

“In the end, [Brierley] was not learning the software like she said she was,” Walker said, said of the former employee’s release.

Brierley claims that she had met with Walker regarding Edmonson and was advised to document her complaints.

“There have been a lot of things going on there,” Brierley said in a telephone interview. “I think that organization would be better run by someone else. Ms. Diana has been in that organization for almost 20 years. I think she [views the COA] too much on a personal level and runs it as if it was hers personally.”

“This is so upsetting,” Edmonson remarked of the claims against her. “It just breaks my heart.”

Brierley claimed that COA employees had performed gardening at Edmonson’s home and ran personal errands for their boss. Edmonson said the former employee was twisting the truth and making misleading statements.

“Janell was not doing her job and she knew it,” Edmonson added.

“I am really not at liberty to say anything about it right now because it is an ongoing investigation,” COA Board of Directors Chairwoman Wanda LeBlanc said. “Our No. 1 concern is for the Council on Aging, and to make sure we maintain its integrity.”

LeBlanc said the investigation is not intended to point fingers, but to clarify allegations. “We will do everything in our power to reach an understanding of what the charges are and what the truth is,” she said.

Edmonson has held her position with the COA for 20 years and this is the third employment-related complaint against her during that time. The two previous times were found to be unsubstantiated allegations made by disgruntled former employees and were dismissed.

In January, Edmonson was named Most Useful Citizen of the Year by the Houma-Terrebonne Chamber of Commerce.

Terrebonne Council of Aging Human Resources Manager Jane Walker discusses staffing documents with Executive Director Diana Edmonson and Operations Manager Darla Cantrelle. 

MIKE NIXON | TRI-PARISH TIMES