Former Kernersville Fire Fighter To Present Case In Court On Monday

KERNERSVILLE — Former Kernersville Fire Fighter Kevin Bray will get his day in court on Monday, May 16, to present his case regarding a violation of his right to receive and review all of his personnel files and documents that was denied to him by the Kernersville Town Manager.

Bray and the Kernersville Professional Fire Fighters Association filed a lawsuit on Bray’s behalf regarding the town of Kernersville’s violation of North Carolina General Statute 160A-168(c1). Under that statue, an employee is entitled to receive all of their personnel files and documents from municipalities upon request. When an employee has been disciplined, as was the case with Bray, the employee is entitled under that statute to the entire investigative file relied upon to justify the discipline, as well as drafts of the disciplinary documents and communications among municipal officials concerning the investigation and the decision to impose discipline.

Following his discharge from the Kernersville Fire Department, Bray made a written request for all his personnel documents, records and investigation files. The town manager, in return, only provided Bray with copies from the investigation file that had large portions of the information redacted or blacked out. Also, the town manager did not provide Bray with any of the drafts of disciplinary documents or the communications among town officials. The town manager’s actions are a clear violation of North Carolina law.

Because Bray was never given all of his personnel documents, he was deprived of a fair opportunity to present his case in the grievance procedure. Now, Bray is asking the Superior Court, not only to order the Manager to produce his complete and unredacted personnel documents, but also to direct that after he receives all of those documents, to have another grievance hearing where he can make use of the information in those documents. He will be represented by Professional Fire Fighters and Paramedics Association Attorney Travis Payne of Edelstein Payne & Lucas out of Raleigh.

We invite all media outlets to attend this court hearing scheduled for the morning of Monday, May 16, in courtroom 6-A of the Forsyth County Courthouse. The session begins at 10 a.m., with Bray’s case expected later in the morning after shorter cases are handled.