BY JENNIFER CABRERA

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – A discrimination and retaliation complaint against former Sheriff Clovis Watson, Jr. that was filed by Alachua County Sheriff’s Deputy Kevin Davis last February has now been scheduled for trial in February 2025.

The order from Judge Gloria Walker sets a pre-trial conference for January 21, 2025, and schedules a Jury Trial to begin on February 3, 2025. The trial is expected to take five days. The parties have been ordered to complete mediation by December 31, 2024 and have also been ordered to conduct good-faith settlement negotiations before the pre-trial conference.

Complaint alleges racial discrimination in promotion process

In the complaint, Davis described the promotion process at ASO: eligible employees may take a promotional exam and must achieve a minimum score to be placed on the eligibility list; the top candidates are given an opportunity to interview with either the Sheriff or Undersheriff; and the Sheriff or his designee makes the final decision based on relevant experience, background, performance history, discipline history, and other job-related factors. Davis claimed that after Watson took office in January 2021, he and other Caucasian employees were “continuously passed over for promotion and transfer because of their race” and at the time the complaint was filed, he had been third on the promotion list for lieutenant for 17 months. Davis stated that he filed an internal complaint about racially-based discrimination in promotions at ASO but said he received no response.

Davis filed charges of discrimination with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the Florida Commission on Human Relations (FCHR) in February 2022 and received a Notice of Determination from FCHR in October and a Notice of Suit Rights from the EEOC in January 2023 that give him the right to sue. A third charge of discrimination was filed in March 2024 with the EEOC, and that charge is pending within the EEOC administrative process.

Davis provided several examples of minority candidates being “promoted, reassigned, or otherwise selected over a Caucasian candidate, with the deciding factor being race.” One example was a black male who was ranked fifth on the Sergeant’s promotional list and was selected over four non-minority candidates and given a position that is highly unusual for newly-promoted Sergeants, who are usually assigned to patrol. Another black male was named as “acting” lieutenant in spite of not being one of the top five candidates and not being eligible for promotion to lieutenant at the time. Another black male was promoted to lieutenant over eligible non-minority candidates although he was not in the top five of the lieutenant promotional list. A black female was hired in spite of a “known criminal history and numerous racially motivated social media posts.”

Davis stated in the complaint that Watson required photos to be submitted with the paperwork for promotions, transfers, and special assignments and that the photo “serves no other purpose than to confirm the race of the employee.”

Davis submitted a complaint to Human Resources in August 2022 when a black male who was eighth on the promotion list was promoted to lieutenant over him. In January 2023, two white males were promoted to lieutenant, and Davis claimed that this was an act of retaliation and “an effort to conceal discriminatory intent” because both had lower test scores and less supervisory experience than Davis.