Ex-Bucks County Recorder of Deeds worker alleges political affiliation cost her job

The former second-highest administrator in the Bucks County Recorder of Deeds office is alleging in a federal lawsuit that she was wrongfully terminated earlier this year, two months after her newly elected boss took over.

Carol Schaffling, of Upper Southampton, contends that she lost her $81,600 a year job as Second Deputy Recorder of Deeds only because she is a registered Democrat and helped in the re-election campaign of former Recorder of Deeds Robin Robinson, also a Democrat.

Robinson lost her re-election bid to former Warminster supervisor Daniel J. McPhillips last year, who then replaced Schaffling with a registered Republican, according to the wrongful termination lawsuit filed last week in the U.S. District Court in Philadelphia.

The suit names as defendants the Bucks County Recorder of Deeds office, Bucks County and McPhillips, who is being sued both individually and in his row office position.

Bucks County declined to comment on the suit, a spokesman said.

Neither McPhillips nor Montgomery County attorney Ethan O’Shea, who is representing Schaffling, immediately responded to emails requesting comment Monday.

Schaffling was hired to work in the office in Feb. 2018, shortly after Robinson took over the office.  During Robinson’s re-election campaign last year, Schaffling donated money and distributed literature to independent voters supporting Robinson, according to the lawsuit.

After her predecessor resigned, Schaffling was promoted to Second Deputy Recorder of Deeds in September 2021, the lawsuit said.

On March 2, two months after McPhillips assumed the Recorder of Deeds job, he asked to meet with Schaffling and terminated her as of March 3, according to the lawsuit. McPhillips allegedly told Schaffling he was “going in another direction” with her position.

After terminating Schaffling, McPhillip hired Suzanne McCracken to take over as Second Deputy Recorder of Deeds, the suit said.

Schaffling was let go though the suit alleges that McPhillip praised her job performance to a former county solicitor weeks before terminating her.

The duties of the Second Deputy Recorder of Deeds include, among other things, supervising fiscal staff in carrying out the fiscal responsibilities of the office; preparing payroll and executing personnel actions and managing monthly and annual budgets.

Before she was hired in the recorder’s office, Schaffling worked as an accounts payable clerk for a Middletown warehouse distributor.  McCracken previously worked as a senior recorder and administrator for Bucks County from 2017 to 2019.

The suit alleges Schaffling was terminated not only because of her political party affiliation but because she engaged in “constitutionally protected activity namely showing support for Robinson’s re-election as Bucks County Recorder of Deeds.”

“Party affiliation is not an appropriate requirement for the effective performance of the duties of the Second Deputy Recorder of Deeds,” according to the suit.

The Latest with COVID in Bucks CountyBucks County's COVID cases up 13.8%; Pennsylvania cases surge 10.1%

More traffic construction newsRoute 1 in Penndel set to be under construction for a year for $2.2M improvement project

More courts newsFormer Upper Bucks Tech School director says in lawsuit he was fired over COVID mask rules

This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Ex-Bucks County Recorder of Deeds worker alleges politics cost her job