TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) – A lawsuit against Leon County Clerk of Courts Gwen Marshall is now moving to federal court after an employee alleged she was wrongfully fired due to age discrimination.<\/p>\n
The lawsuit was filed two months ago by an employee in her late sixties who has worked with Marshall since 1999. The employee alleges that during her employment, she was subject to \u201cdisparate treatment, different terms and conditions of employment, and held to a different standard than similarly situated younger employees because of her age,\u201d the court documents read.<\/p>\n
The employee was fired in August last year after an inmate was wrongfully released from jail. She alleges that the inmate was wrongfully released because of \u201csystemic failures\u201d and not her conduct.<\/p>\n
The incident unfolded when a judge ordered an inmate to be released from jail, but the employee who processes the charging information was out sick.<\/p>\n
The employee sought guidance from her supervisor as she couldn\u2019t process the judge\u2019s order without verifying if the charging information had been processed. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf such charging information had been filed, the Order for Release should not be processed,\u201d the lawsuit says.<\/p>\n
More Tallahassee news:<\/p>\n
Her supervisor said to process the order if the charging information was not entered by the end of the day.<\/p>\n
According to the lawsuit, the employee did as she was instructed and processed the judge\u2019s order, as the charging information had not been processed. The next day, it was discovered that the State Attorney\u2019s Office had processed the charging information the previous afternoon, and it was not entered into the court system. <\/p>\n
Despite this, the inmate was released from jail the next day, the lawsuit said. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis resulted from Defendant\u2019s failure to timely process the charging information \u2014 not from any action taken by Plaintiff, who acted in accordance with instructions and standard procedure under the circumstances,” the lawsuit said. <\/p>\n
According to court documents, the employee was terminated the following week as her supervisors claimed she shouldn\u2019t have processed the order.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnder these circumstances, and given that plaintiff followed direct instructions, Plaintiff reasonably believes that the stated reason for her termination was pretextual, particularly given that younger or less senior employees were not terminated for comparable or more serious errors,\u201d the lawsuit says.<\/p>\n
The employee\u2019s supervisor also reportedly contacted the employee the day after the inmate was released, apologizing for the incident and taking responsibility for failing to check the charging information on her behalf. <\/p>\n
The move to take the suit to federal court was filed three days ago, according to court records. <\/p>\n
This comes after Chief Judge Frank Allman reported Marshall to the Florida Supreme Court<\/a> last year, claiming a \u201cneglect of duty.<\/p>\n WCTV has reached out to the attorneys for both the plaintiff and the defendant and has not immediately received a response.<\/p>\n To keep up with the latest news as it develops, follow WCTV on Facebook<\/a>, Instagram<\/a>, YouTube<\/a>, Nextdoor<\/a> <\/a>and X<\/a> (Twitter<\/a>).<\/p>\n Have a news tip or see an error? Write to us here<\/a>. Please include the article\u2019s headline in your message.<\/p>\n Be the first to see all the biggest headlines by downloading the WCTV News app. Click here<\/a> to get started.<\/p>\n Copyright 2026 WCTV. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n