Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, December 17, 1994 TAG: 9412190066
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MICHAEL STOWE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Charles J. Fuller Jr., a jailer under former Montgomery County Sheriff Louis Barber, had filed a $100,000 suit alleging that Phipps violated his civil rights by refusing to hire him because he is black.
After a two-day trial, a jury of seven women agreed Friday with an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission decision that Phipps did not discriminate against Fuller.
"I thought from the start that the charges were unjustified," Phipps said after the verdict. "I'm just sorry it had to come this far."
Phipps testified Friday that Fuller wasn't hired because he withdrew his application after learning that the jailer position he applied for was only a temporary job.
Phipps said he wouldn't have hired Fuller anyway because he was worried about the applicant's job stability.
Fuller, now a deputy with the Roanoke County Sheriff's Office, worked for Barber from 1988-91 when he quit to take a job at the Radford Army Ammunition Plant. Fuller went back to work for Barber in 1991 when he was laid off from his job at the arsenal.
He left the department again after less than six months to take a job at Hoechst Celanese, the company where he had worked for 23 years before getting into law enforcement.
He was laid off by Celanese in November 1991, the same month that Phipps defeated Barber in an election to become Montgomery County's sheriff.
In January 1992, Fuller applied for a job as one of Phipps' deputies. He got little response, so accepted his current job with the Roanoke County Sheriff's Office in November 1992.
Phipps called Fuller for an interview in January 1993, and Fuller agreed to talk with the sheriff because he wanted to work closer to his Montgomery County home.
The discrimination suit was filed in March of this year after Phipps hired three white men and not Fuller.
Fuller, 48, also filed an age-discrimination complaint against Phipps, but U.S. District Judge Jackson Kiser dismissed that claim before the trial started.
by CNB