Garfield County clerk accused of racial, gender discrimination

Thursday, November 10th 2005, 6:05 pm

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- A black man who alleges he was passed over for a job in Garfield County Clerk Kathy Hughes' office has accused Hughes and the county of racial and gender discrimination.

Royelle D. Smith claims Garfield County is underrepresented by minority employees in a lawsuit he filed in federal court in Oklahoma City.

Hughes has denied she discriminated against Smith and says he didn't get the job due to legitimate, nondiscriminatory reasons.

Smith worked for seven years as a clerk in Oklahoma County. At the time he applied for the Garfield County job, Smith says there were no male or minority workers in Hughes' office and the only minority workers employed by the county were manual labor employees.

Smith says the job was given to a white woman and he was told he was overqualified.