A hearing was held yesterday at the Charlottesville Federal Court in the case of former University employee Dena Bowers, who brought suit against the University last June. Bowers claims that she was wrongfully fired in October of 2005.
Bowers claims she was dismissed for sending an e-mail with an attached report from the Albemarle-Charlottesville NAACP to a coworker from her University account. The report described the potential negative effects of the University's proposed charter on University Medical Center employees.
Bowers' electronic signature, which included her name as well as her position as a senior recruiter with the University's Department of Human Resources, was also in the e-mail.
A recipient of Bower's e-mail mistakenly forwarded it to the entire College faculty because he thought the e-mail was an official University Human Resources communication.
Bowers was then fired for the misrepresentation of the message and the source of the message, as well as her lack of cooperation in clarifying that the e-mail was not sent from her official capacity as a University employee, according to an October 2005 interview with Carol Wood.
Bowers sued the University because she claimed that administrators violated her First Amendment rights and due process.
Yesterday Bowers brought her case to court for a "hearing on motions of summary judgment," in which the University Associate General Counsel argued the case should be dismissed.
The judge could decide that the case should continue to a jury trial, which would begin March 27.
Deborah Wyatt, Bowers' attorney, contested the University's reasons for her client's dismissal.
"Whatever she said or whatever she did, if it had agreed with the University, she wouldn't have been fired," Wyatt said.
Judge Norman Moon, who is presiding over the case, will render his decision within the next few weeks.
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