The City of Orange Beach has been sued in the U.S. District Court by past staff members of Expect Excellence Program. The lawsuit was filed on December 21, 2022 in the Alabama Southern District Court by Attorney Mary Pilcher.

In the court filing the plaintiffs; Chaise Morrisette, Lacy McFadden and De Ann Milly accuse City of Orange Beach staff member Director of Recreation, Jonathan Langston, of harassment. The plaintiffs further accuse Mayor Tony Kennon and Council Member Annette Mitchell of poor supervision.

Included in the suit are Mayor Tony Kennon and the entire Orange Beach City Council saying in the filing the group “failed to provide adequate and proper supervision of Langston in the performance of his duties. (Orange Beach) received complaints from other employees working at (Orange Beach), alleging Langston had engaged in inappropriate, offensive, and hostile conduct towards other (Orange Beach) employees.”

The suit also alleges the city council and mayor were made aware of the offensive behavior and actions of Langston but took no action to address the allegations. Councilmember Annette Mitchell is named individually because she is involved in the theater program and serves on the Expect Excellence Steering Committee.

The lawsuit also alleges In June of 2021, the three plaintiffs filed a complaint with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and after its investigation sent letters to the trio in September and October of 2022 saying they “had a right to sue” over the allegations.

The lawsuit also names Jessica Langston, the City's Creative Director and Morrisette’s supervisor, for making disparaging comments about Morrisette. In a meeting with the Langstons, Morrisette, McFadden and employee Renea McCoy they were told by Langston there was a “cancer in the room” and it needed to be “cut out.” When the Langstons left the room during the meeting one of them left a recorder running and heard the others offering support to Morrisette. The recording was transcribed and posted to Facebook, the lawsuit claims.

Finally, the suit seeks a declaratory judgment that the actions of the defendants were in violation of federal law and to file an injunction against the defendants and future employees to prevent them from similar violations in the future.

The news staff reached out to the City for further comment and were told that they will not comment on pending litigation.