The Knox County Law Director through his office and staff filings have maintained that an employee of a Knox County Fee Office Holder (Circuit Court Clerk, Criminal Court Clerk, County Clerk etc) is not a General Knox County Employee.
But a recent court discovery challlenges that. In Burkhart -v- Randles (6th Cir. 1985) the court held
It is well established that a person’s reputation and good name are among the liberty interests protected by public government action in connection with a termination. Of employment or refusal to rehire.
Accordingly, the Supreme Court has determined that where a nontenured employee shows he has been stigmatized by a voluntary, public dissemination of false information in the course of a decision to terminate his employment, the employer is required to afford him an opportunity to clear his name.
By the way, Randles was the Knox County Criminal Court Clerk in the 1980’s. The late Martha Phillips replaced Randles. Ms. Joy McCroskey replaced Phillips and current Clerk Mike Hammond was elected after McCroskey chose not to seek another term in 2014.
This is from recent filings in a suit against Cathy Shanks, Knox County Circuit Court Clerk brought by one of her former employees that she terminated. I am not a lawyer and have not stayed at a Holiday Inn recently, but case law involving a similar elected official in the same county seems to me a lay person as somewhat relevant.
