HOUSTON – The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services has been sued by a male former employee for race and sex discrimination.
Jon Chapman filed a lawsuit against the DFPS in the Houston Division of the Southern District of Texas on Aug. 7, asserting the state agency demoted him from his position as a program administrator in its Special Investigations Division earlier this year because he is a white man.
The 8-page complaint explains that Chapman last year “played a pivotal role in an effort to blow the whistle on, and put a stop to, widespread overtime pay fraud and abuse” by employees in his division much to the defendant’s chagrin.
Someone within the agency purportedly sent a letter “full of false and defamatory statements” about the plaintiff to Gov. Greg Abbott and Comm. Hank Whitman in late 2017. The letter requested a formal investigation into Chapman’s work, the suit says.
Court papers further allege that the complainant was not interviewed as part of the investigation. He was demoted while his female and black co-workers were spared any disciplinary action for their transgressions, according to the original petition.
Consequently, Chapman seeks unspecified monetary damages and a jury trial.
Ahad Khan of Houston is representing the plaintiff.
Houston Division of the Southern District of Texas Case No. 4:18-CV-2726