Atlanta-area taxpayers are on the hook for nearly $1 million to settle a civil sexual discrimination claim against Fulton County Commissioner Natalie Hall.
Judge Jason Patil awarded Hall’s former chief of staff, Calvin Brock, $902,487 following an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission discrimination suit Brock filed in February 2021, claiming he was fired in retaliation for breaking up with Hall following a year-long love affair.
The ruling stems from a hearing in August in which Hall and Brock gave testimony about the affair.
“Hall tried to force Brock to remain in an exclusive sexual relationship with her, stalked him for months, and ultimately fired him,” Patil said in the ruling, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Brock won on the claim of sexual discrimination, but the judge determined there was not enough evidence to support his allegation that Hall retaliated against him after he filed the legal complaint against her.
Because the violations occurred as part Hall’s official public duties, Fulton County is responsible for covering all the punitive damages in the case.
Hall will keep her seat on the commission until her term expires at the end of the year.
Under the decision, Brock is entitled to $460,000 plus interest in back pay, plus another $143,392 in pay for “the duration of Hall’s current term as commissioner.”
Brock sued for three years of future pay and an additional $300,000 in compensatory damages, but Patil cut off the award for these items at $65,000.
The judge tacked on another $184,000 to cover Brock’s attorney fees and court costs.
As part of the decision, Fulton County is mandated to provide Hall with training on supervisor responsibilities, and a public notice must be posted acknowledging that a commission employee faced sexual discrimination on the job.
On Wednesday, the commission voted 5-1 to accept the ruling and agreed not to challenge the decision, with Commissioner Marvin Arrington Jr. casting the only no vote, while Hall recused herself in the matter.
During the proceedings, Brock indicated that he never had both his feet firmly in the romance, while the judge found Hall’s explanation of the affair implausible, siding with Brock on key aspects in the legal claim.
“Even if the relationship began mutually, it did not remain consensual for long because Hall initiated a dizzying array of deceptions designed to monitor and control his interaction with other women,” Patil wrote.
Evidence was presented showing three tracking devices were discovered in Brock’s vehicles, presumably to surveil his movements.
The judge also highlighted that Hall invoked the Fifth Amendment more than 150 times to avoid self-incrimination, particularly when questioned about the surveillance devices.
In the ruling, Patil noted that pleading the Fifth “does not forbid adverse inferences against parties.”
Additionally, there was a dispute over whether Brock voluntarily resigned or if he was terminated in September 2020.
Allegations of the Sex Scandal Between Natalie Hall and Calvin Brock
The scandal first emerged in February 2018 when Brock relocated to Atlanta after retiring as a police officer in New Jersey.
Several months later, Brock moved into his mother’s basement while trying to start his own business, leading to a chance encounter with Hall at a local furniture outlet.
Soon, Brock was gainfully employed as a community relations manager on Hall’s staff, earning $60,000 per year.
Next, Hall’s chief of staff DaVena Jordan departed not long after Brock arrived, allowing Brock to step into a higher position, which boosted his annual salary to $105,000. A little more than half a year later, Brock got another $20,000 raise, resulting in a $139,363 salary, including benefits.
The pair started sleeping together at Brock’s apartment in early 2019, and the affair sizzled for more than a year as the lovers visited each other’s homes, and concealed the relationship from friends and co-workers.
But by March 2020, the relationship began to sour as Hall became jealous that Brock had started dating other women — and this was around the same time that she began planting tracking devices in Brock’s vehicles, according to Patil’s ruling.
Another woman who was dating Brock filed a whistleblower complaint concerning his relationship with the Fulton commissioner.
Ultimately, the complaint landed on the desk of Fulton County Auditor Anthony Nicks, who notified Hall and two commissioners, however no action was taken immediately to discipline Hall, although commissioners voted 5-0 in September to censure Hall more than two years after the scandal came to light.
Brock said he confronted Hall after he came across two tracking devices planted inside his vehicles in June and August 2020.
Hall asserted she found the remote devices in Brock’s car, removed them, then reinstalled them after a retired Atlanta police officer purportedly advised her to do so.
Brock discovered a third tracking device in one of his cars on Aug. 31, 2020, and used it to check if Hall was still monitoring him. Two days later, Hall terminated Brock’s employment over text message.
