Greensboro resident and DHHS Secretary Aldona Wos fires the department head of oral health following a tense meeting regarding budget cuts.
Details of the meeting depend on the point of view. Dr. Rebecca King says:
In an email to colleagues, King said Wos repeatedly interrupted her during their meeting. “I have never been treated with such disrespect in any work setting,” King said in the email.
“Even if I had deserved it, which I did not, no employee should be treated that way.”
But acting acting director of public heath Danny Staley addressed King’s behavior in a letter addressing the decision to fire her:
Staley, who has been with the public health division for a little more than two years, wrote in the letter that he was “extremely embarrassed” by King’s behavior, and that Rod Davis, the agency CFO thought “you were attempting to ‘…get (yourself) fired.’ ”
“You began you presentation by voicing your disagreement with the budget reduction,” Staley wrote. “You directed your comments to Secretary Wos in an accusatory and unprofessional manner. You stated that the ‘Department did not support the Oral Health Program and this reduction came on the recommendation from the Department.’ You stated the Secretary provided no support with the legislature to prevent the budget reduction from happening.”
Meanwhile Greensboro resident Carla Harper comes to Dr. Wos’ defense in light of news that one of her husband’s employees earned a nice paycheck for a DHHS contract.
