LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg says his former deputy chief of staff falsified time sheets for work that was never done, which led to her firing.
But Keisha Dorsey insists that's not true, calling Greenberg's claims defamatory.
At his weekly briefing on Wednesday, WHAS11 asked Greenberg if he had further comment on Dorsey's accusations of discriminatory practices within his administration and her plans to sue.
While he previously hadn't given specifics on Dorsey's ousting, that changed at the briefing.
"I believe in giving people the benefit of the doubt, and giving people second chances. However, with repeated unexcused absences, with falsifying time sheets to be paid for work that was never done -- when there's dishonesty and more, at some point, second, third, fourth, and fifth chances run out," he said.
In a phone call with WHAS11 later Wednesday afternoon, Dorsey pushed back on the Mayor's statement.
"I haven't received any formal notice of any first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth or seventh chance," she said. "I haven't seen any performance evaluation in which I even asked and requested one from my former director David Kaplan."
David Kaplan is Greenberg's chief of staff, general counsel and Dorsey's former supervisor.
At issue are situations like the three-week trip Dorsey took late last year, what she has called a sabbatical. Her email records note a time period from Oct. 29, 2023 to Nov. 19, 2023 where she'd be out of the office, "without access to phone or email."
Time sheets obtained by WHAS11 reveal she did record working hours through a significant portion of that span.
Dorsey maintains that paid time off was approved and the Mayor's office knew about it beforehand. She has denied claims about her work attendance, saying even when she wasn't in the office, she was still working and sending emails.
An email exchange shows Kaplan telling Dorsey, "I recently learned that you are out of the country. I noticed the entry on my calendar last week, but we had not discussed it so I was caught a bit off guard."
"When they say it wasn't approved, that's bogus," Dorsey said on Tuesday.
Dorsey has said she was wrongfully fired while on family and medical leave, which the city says she was approved for on March 19. She was fired on Aug. 7.
At his briefing, Greenberg said he's disappointed at the "defamatory and misleading statements" being directed at members of his administration, citing the "negative impact" it's having on women of color "excelling" in his office.
"Their names are now being publicized without their permission, without their support, without their knowledge -- and that's a shame," he said on Wednesday.
Responding to those comments, Dorsey told WHAS11, "Every day, people -- women -- go unnamed and harmed in this administration because they are afraid. It's not the intent to subject those women to potential further retaliation. That is up to the mayor."
According to the U.S. Department of Labor, an employer is prohibited from discriminating or retaliating against an employee or prospective employee for having exercised or attempted to exercise any FMLA right.
It's worth noting, the email where Kaplan noted Dorsey's "lack of attendance" was sent in February, before she was granted that unpaid medical leave.
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