Dispatcher sues city after self-quarantine

LITTLE ROCK — A former emergency services dispatcher is suing the city, claiming he was illegally fired and his insurance cut off because he’d complained about a co-worker possibly exposing him to the covid-19 virus and then took off three weeks without pay to self-quarantine.

Aaron Manning, 46, says he was terminated last week after about 3½ months as a dispatcher under the pretext of being a probationary employee. He filed suit Wednesday, two days after the city withdrew the insurance coverage he’d been promised in writing, the eight-page lawsuit states.

“All of the city of Little Rock’s actions were done with malice,” the lawsuit states.

His wrongful termination suit, filed by Little Rock lawyers Scott Poynter and Daniel Holland, asks Pulaski County Circuit Judge Wendell Griffen to order the city to reinstate his insurance and to give him his job back. Manning also wants the judge to convene a jury to award him unspecified compensatory and punitive damages, including lost wages and legal expenses, for violating the Arkansas Whistle-Blower Act.

Manning medically retired from the police department after 22 years last December following spinal surgery and immediately started work as a dispatcher. He says the city was wrong to classify him as a probationary employee. The city’s claim that he’s a rookie is “nonsensical,” the lawsuit states.

The city attorney’s office declined comment.

Manning contends he was actually fired in retaliation for taking three weeks of unpaid time off to self-quarantine after complaining about a co-worker possibly violating city policies and potentially exposing him to the coronavirus, according to the suit. That co-worker had gone to Houston in March to pick up a relative from a cruise, the lawsuit states.

Manning’s approval to take unpaid leave was granted and then rescinded, but he left anyway after notifying his supervisors in writing, according to the suit.