Samella Thomas isn't getting much respect.
Thomas is a deputy tax collector in the Jefferson County tax collector's office. Her story has been presented in different ways, both in the written and spoken word, but when she presents her case, officials look at their shoes and shrug.
Her claim is fairly simple. She said she was hired in 2008 and is still in the same position today as the one she was hired into. That would be worth a head-scratching in and of itself, but there's more: She says she is still the lowest-paid person in the office, while others doing the same job, some of whom were hired years after she was hired, are making more money, to the tune of between $2,000 and $4,000.
Thomas went before the Quorum Court the other night, seeking to have something done. She has said before that she has spoken with her boss, tax collector Tony Washington, who told her there was nothing he could do.
"I pray to the Lord that nobody else has to go through what I'm going through now," she told the justices of the peace. "I'm asking if there is anything that the Quorum Court can do to help me get my salary raised."
County Judge Gerald Robinson said the Quorum Court couldn't do anything because it can act only if the elected official involved is the one asking for something to be done.
"That has not been done," said Robinson. "There is really no action we can take on that."
For Washington's part, he said there is nothing he can do either. It might be more accurate to say that there's nothing that he wants to do.
He says he's only been in office a couple of years, and the situation with Thomas happened under a previous administration. Well, that is not her problem, especially since the matter just came to light.
He also said if he increased Thomas' salary, he'd have to adjust everyone's salary. Really? Has everyone been messed over since 2008? And if that's the case, maybe they all do need an adjustment.
The whole "we can't do anything" argument just doesn't hold water when it comes to Washington. This is an elected official who asked for a raise for his chief deputy recently and then gave it to his bookkeeper, and when some of the justices of the peace learned of what appeared to be a switcheroo and chastised Washington, he got huffy and said it was his department and he alone determines what slots get paid at what rate. So that one person gets a nice raise because Washington was willing to duke it out with the Quorum Court, but for Thomas, the best he can do is, oh, gee, sorry?
We certainly do not know all of the details here, but the distinct impression is that Thomas' complaints are not being given due consideration. And isn't that exactly how lawsuits happen? Someone feels that they have been wronged and no one is listening, and their next stop is an attorney's office. It happens a lot, and it's expensive, and in most cases, the situation could have been avoided. Perhaps this is one such situation.