The way Office of Alcohol and Tobacco Control (ATC) Director Troy Hebert runs his shop, it was inevitable that one or more of his employees would end up taking legal action against him.
And when you strip grown men of their dignity by making them write lines like some school kid, that borders on the sadistic. Such petty behavior is just asking for trouble and trouble is certain to oblige.
In fact, he already has settled a couple of discrimination claims and now three more former employees have filed suit in federal court.
Three former ATC supervisors, all black, have filed a federal lawsuit in the Baton Rouge’s Middle District claiming a multitude of actions they say Hebert took in a deliberate attempt to force the three to resign or take early retirement and in fact, conducted a purge of virtually all black employees of ATC.
Baton Rouge attorney J. Arthur Smith, III filed the lawsuit on behalf of Charles Gilmore of Baton Rouge, Daimian T. McDowell of Bossier Parish, and Larry J. Hingle of Jefferson Parish.
The lawsuit claims a pattern of racial discrimination, race-based harassment and retaliation, including the “systematic elimination of all African-American employees” of the agency.
When Hebert took over the office in November of 2010, “there were five African-American supervisors within the ATC Enforcement Division,” the suit says. Today, there are none.
One of the more egregious acts attributed to Hebert and reported earlier by LouisianaVoice was his ordering two of the plaintiffs in the latest lawsuit, Gilmore and McDowell, to go undercover to investigate a New Orleans bar where each had previously investigated in full uniform. Both men, fearing for their safety should they be recognized, requested that Hebert send other undercover agents, but he refused and told the two “to handle it,” the petition says.
On Feb. 6, 2012, Hebert relocated Gilmore from Baton Rouge to north Louisiana permanently with no prior notice and later informed agent Brette Tingle that he had reassigned Gilmore in the hope he would retire early or resign. Tingle, the petition says, advised McDowell and Gilmore on Aug. 23, 2012, that Hebert had confided in him that he intended to break up the “black trio,” a reference to McDowell, Gilmore and another agent, Bennie Walters. Walters was subsequently terminated two weeks later, on Sept. 7.
On Sept. 6, 2012, the day after Hebert demoted McDowell from Agent 3 to Agent 2 (the demotion was later rescinded), Hebert conducted an internal investigation of five agents and seized computers, iPads and cell phones and then ordered each agent to write four essays regarding ATC.
Another claim cited in the lawsuit concerns an email sent by one of the supervisor’s subordinates in which the agent failed to address Hebert as “Commissioner” or “Sir.”
Hebert, who requires that all ATC personnel rise from their seats and address him with a cheery “Good morning, Commissioner” whenever he walks into a room, responded by asking Human Resources Director Joan Ward “what type of disciplinary action” he could take “to get Hingle’s attention” to ensure his agents showed Hebert the “proper respect,” the petition says.
Hingle also claims that Hebert referred to him as “incompetent” and a “zero” in the presence of Hingle’s subordinate agents and that he confided to agent Brette Tingle that he was planning to “go after” Hingle.
On Dec. 27, 2012, Hingle said Hebert sent him a letter proposing his dismissal. He later rescinded the letter but sent a second proposal of dismissal on Jan. 22 and six days later was demoted from ATC Agent 5 to ATC Agent 3.
The lawsuit said that all three plaintiffs have received the requisite “right to sue” notice from the U.S. Department of Justice pursuant to Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) complaints.
The three men claim that Hebert, ATC and the Louisiana Department of Revenue are liable for compensatory damages, including economic and emotional losses, loss of retirement benefits and damages to their reputations.
They are asking for a jury trial and are seeking lost wages, compensatory damages, and punitive damages.
Louisiana Voice 
Thank you Tom!
ATF and State Police certainly seem to have more than their fair share of Nazi bully personalities especially those who float to the top. But everything they do is ultimately in the name of public safety and security, so it’s OK.
These men deserve everything they are suing him for,
Bad thing is this is only the tip of the iceberg. The turnover rate is ridiculous because nobody’s perfect enough for this man. Once he’s done using you he will change a rule or policy to try and run them off.
Mr. Aswell, haven’t you noted in past posts that Troy Hebert is now one of the top minions of Jindal? They deserve each other. People of this horrid mindset gravitate toward each other. Bobby and Troy are a match made in—I’ll say it—Hell!
Something else the readers may or may not know: the Commissioner also discriminated against another black agent that happened to be in the military. The agent later filed a federal military discrimination complaint against ATC. This was the only way that agent was able to get some sort of recompense relatively timely (this was one of the matters the Commissioner settled instead of fight knowing he would lose).
In the business world it’s a well known theory that a successful executive is only as good as the managers he surrounds himself with. Based on this benchmark and the multitude of department heads Jindal has hired and fired and their subsequent performance you can only conclude that the state’s CEO is an utter failure. It will be interesting to watch the show as this becomes apparent when his pipe dream quest for the White House is finally examined in detail by the so far clueless main stream media.
I have know Charles Gilmore for years and he is one of the finest men you will ever meet. He is fair, and always has been extremely professional and dedicated to law enforcement. I can’t imagine any scenario where his character or dedication could be called into question. He and his family are truly fine people!
“The tides of injustice rolling into the waves of justice!” “Still waters run deep!” “As the red bird sings, the blue bird flies to its final redemption with victory!” #TeamBlueDat
When the feds give the ok to sue, it has already been investigated. He has no chance of a win in court. But the problem is it is not against him, but the agency, which we the people fund. It is a shame that we the people have no recourse as Jindal is his boss. No liability to him, just the state.
If I read correctly, the men are suing ATC, Revenue and Hebert personally.
Here’s a link if anyone wants to read the actual suit itself: http://www.auctioneer-la.org/Hebert_lawsuit.pdf. I provide the link mainly because it reads like an absolute comical chronology were it not for the fact it’s not a work of fiction!! Now, this follows on the heels of the Gestapo tactics by the Cosmetology Board (www.auctioneer-la.org/Cosmotology_lawsuit.pdf). I’m sure everyone recalls the extensive corruption within the Louisiana Board of Dentistry Tom wrote about several months back. Then there was the article I wrote regarding rank racism on the Louisiana Auctioneer Licensing Board toward Louisiana’s only African American auctioneer (complete with sound bites and video links). At some point, one cannot help but ask if a litmus test of racism is applied to prospective appointees of Gov. Jindal. If a prospective appointee doesn’t score high enough on the “racism scale,” his appointment is denied in favor of those showing far more propensity for racism. One also cannot help but wonder, given Jindal’s blunt assessments of President Obama (most incompetent President since Jimmy Carter, etc.) that, through his racist appointments, he’s entitled to “event the score” at the State level for “incompetence” at the highest office in the world. Jindal has become an embarrassment beyond anything even his strongest original supporters could have possibly dreamed imaginable!! Great work on this recent blast of investigative reports, Tom!!
I know Brette Tingle personally and I can attest to the fact that he exemplifies integrity and leads by example. He deployed with my husband twice and without his guidance and leadership I don’t know how my husband would have been able to make it through that tough time. Not only was he a mentor to a young man who had never really been away from the comfort of home, he was also a friend to me, the significant other terrified of what may happen. He went above and beyond his duty as a superior to my husband and also took me under his wing. The State of Louisiana is lucky to have someone of his moral fiber and professionalism working for the ATC.
Wish I could get a subpoena as a character witness for Hingle, Gilmore & McDowell.
Me too
I have known Brette Tingle since 2002 and he is a man of integrity, so if he say’s it happened then take that to the bank. In addition to being a fellow Law Enforcement Officer and Coast Guard member, Brette Tingle is a true friend who has and will do anything within his power to help out his fellow man. The State of Louisiana should be ashamed to let men like Herbert abuse appointed power and authority to make the life hard on good men like Brette Tingle. Louisiana needs to wake up and get rid of this unethical person they call a director! What a joke. A bad one at that!
I second that.
I know all of these men personally. I worked with them, trusted them, trusted my life to them on more than one occasion. These are fine, hard working family men who were a credit to state government. Believe me when I say that this issue is the tip of the iceberg. Hebert is an evil puppet master who is bent on destroying lives of many good people. I hope this law suit ends his reign.
I have heard from law enforcement friends that over the past year there have been many job openings at ATC. Many that have applied were well qualified and some perhaps over qualified. Some of these applicants were interviewed but never hired and others were never called for interview. The credentials on some of these applicants were impressive according to my friend. I don’t know what type of people they are looking for at ATC but based on what I have been told ATC really missed an opportunity to hire some very talented, experienced and professional law enforcement officers. If there is that much turnaround at ATC maybe these officers are quitting as fast as they get hired because of the working conditions. Any professional business person would look at this as a red flag if their employee turnover rate was this high, especially if you are loosing your best talent. Or could it be perhaps they don’t care as long as they get a warm body to fill the slot.