Former Williamson health director hid phone to illegally record meetings, lawsuit says
A former director for the Williamson County and Cities Health District pleaded guilty last week to two counts of attempting to disclose a recording of a closed meeting, Class C misdemeanors, and was sentenced to pay a $500 fine for each count.
When he was health district director, Derrick Neal secretly made the recordings of two district board meetings about his racial discrimination claims, according to a lawsuit the district filed against him.
The district's lawyer found Neal's phone recording the discussion last year under a pile of papers during one of the meetings. Neal knew that he was not supposed to attend the executive sessions where his claims were being discussed, according to the lawsuit.
Neal, who is Black, did not respond to a request for comment about the lawsuit. He is now the chief public health officer for Cambridge, Mass., according to the city's website. His lawyer also declined to comment.
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The lawsuit asks that Neal's phone not be returned to him until the recordings are removed from the device and from a cloud-based server where they might be stored and copies of them given to the district. The lawsuit also asks that Neal not be allowed to remove any other files from the phone pending the outcome of the lawsuit and a claim that Neal made to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against the district.
The lawsuit does not give any details about the racial discrimination claims that Neal made to the district. An attorney for the district declined to comment about them.
"The phone is now in the custody of the Williamson County constable Precinct 1, pending the outcome of the civil litigation," said Brad Bullock, one of the district's lawyers. "The purpose of sequestration is to prevent a party from removing, destroying or altering evidence related to the cause of action."
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The incidents can be traced back to July 2021 when the chair of the district's board left the position and a new chair took over, the lawsuit said. "For reasons unknown to WCCHD, this change in leadership apparently prompted Neal to inform others at WCCHD that he was concerned about his job security due to this transition," the suit said.
"By letter dated August 12, 2021, Neal sent a demand to WCCHD’s general counsel wherein Neal alleged claims of racial discrimination and made a demand for a substantial severance package," it said.
The district's board met in executive session on Sept. 1 and Oct. 13 to discuss Neal's claims with its lawyer, the lawsuit said. It said Neal was asked to leave both meetings before the discussion began. The district's lawyer found Neal's phone recording the meeting during the Oct. 13 executive session, the lawsuit said.
The board called the Round Rock police after Neal's phone was found and police took the phone, according to the lawsuit. It said the board received information that the phone also contained a recording of the Sept. 1 executive session.
Neal was put on administrative leave with pay Oct. 13, pending the results of an investigation, the lawsuit said. He resigned Oct. 14, according to the suit. He had been the executive director for the health district since January 2019. The district's current executive director is Dr. Caroline Hilbert.
Neal filed a charge of racial discrimination with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on Oct. 27, the lawsuit said. It said the district has denied his allegations.
Neal’s EEOC complaint is still pending, according to the lawsuit. The health district wanted Neal's phone to be sequestered because previous district electronic devices that he had have been lost, damaged or wiped clean, the lawsuit said. Those devices include a district laptop computer with a smashed glass screen and its contents wiped clean that Neal returned after he resigned, the lawsuit said.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Health chief Derrick Neal hid phone to record meetings, lawsuit says
