LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – Mayor Craig Greenberg defended his firing of former deputy chief of staff Keisha Dorsey, saying Wednesday that his administration gave her multiple chances and accusing her of workplace misconduct.
Dorsey has filed two ethics complaints through the city’s online ethics portal. One seeks an independent investigation into deputy mayor David James’ handling of Dorsey’s alleged lobbying of a Metro Council member; another asks for a probe into “potential patterns of discrimination” of race, gender and age in the Greenberg administration.
Speaking at length for the first time since the complaints were made public, Greenberg said he believes “in giving people the benefit of the doubt, giving people second chances.”
“However, with repeated unexcused absences, falsifying time sheets to be paid for work that was never done, when there's dishonesty and more -- at some point, second, third, fourth and fifth chances run out,” he told reporters in Shively.
“As the leader of Metro government, one of my responsibilities is to be a steward of taxpayer dollars and to support my hard-working teammates who dedicate their lives to public service every day,” Greenberg said. “I don't take personnel decisions lightly. Yet there's a time when changes need to be made.”
Greenberg, without mentioning Dorsey by name, also referenced “defamatory and misleading statements that are being directed at other members of our administration, particularly the negative impact that this is having on some of our outstanding women of color who are excelling as part of my administration. Their names are now being publicized without their permission, without their support, without their knowledge, and that's a shame.”
Dorsey detailed many of her claims in an extensive interview with WDRB this week. She declined to comment or even let a reporter read her Greenberg’s comments when reached by phone Wednesday.
She said she is “exhausted” after a visit to the hospital on Tuesday and will hear later what the mayor said.
“I keep having to prove that he’s a liar, and I’m not going to keep going back with you,” Dorsey said in a brief interview. “It’s a distraction.”
Keisha Dorsey speaks with WDRB News in August 2024. (WDRB photo)
Greenberg spokesman Kevin Trager said the city's human resources department is "conducting a full review of Ms. Dorsey’s time sheets, pay stubs, and compliance with all employment policies and laws."
The mayor's comments about "falsifying time sheets" refers to a period between October 27 to November 20, 2023, when Dorsey was traveling internationally, Trager said.
The mayor's office provided a screenshot of Dorsey's time and attendance record during that period, showing that she claimed to have worked 8 hour days during those weeks except for November 14 and 15. Trager said she did not request any time off in advance and retroactively approved the timesheet.
Greenberg's office also provided what appears to be Dorsey's out-of-office calendar entry during that period that shows she was "without access to phone or email."
Dorsey told WDRB the administration knew for months beforehand that she was going on the trip, including before she left. She explained that Metro government was changing payroll systems and she was asked to fill out her timesheet when she returned.
She also disclosed screen captures of her calendar showing meetings on October 30 and November 8. She said she attended meetings via Webex from Africa.
Greenberg's office provided an email from last November in which Chief of Staff David Kaplan told Dorsey: " I recently learned that you are out of the Country. I noted the entry on my calendar last week but we had not discussed it so I was caught a bit off guard."
Dorsey responded: "The entry should have been on there from a while back since January. Apologies for not sending a reminder."
The administration believes Dorsey was not working the days she claimed to have worked, Trager said.
Dorsey told WDRB in this week's interview that she chose to work during her vacation because she had recently been assigned to lead a task force on equity in city contracting task and wanted to "keep the momentum of the task force going. That is professionalism."
She also questioned why she wasn't disciplined if she wasn't actually working.
"If it were a problem, you probably should have written me up," Dorsey said. "If what you're now claiming was a falsified issue, you should have written me up then, so I could have disputed it then."
Metro government has not yet provided a copy of Dorsey’s personnel file, which WDRB has requested under Kentucky’s open records law.
Emails provided by the mayor's office from February 2024 show Kaplan telling Dorsey she had to "operate according to the same rules as everyone else" and that she would "have a full opportunity to explain why, even prior to your surgery, your lack of attendance was noticeable."
Dorsey told WDRB in this week’s sit-down interview that she has struggled with health issues, including fibroids, had surgery a month before Kaplan’s email and was never disciplined in writing for attendance.
In March 2024, according to records reviewed by WDRB, Dorsey took medical leave from Metro government due to stress, high blood pressure and what she described as a hostile work environment.
She said she then worked from home after returning to work in mid-May.
"Keisha was doing her job," Dorsey said when asked to respond to claims about her attendance. "Keisha was understanding a completely new realm of not just a job assignment but a new realm of experience — meeting with community partners, out studying procurement code ... Again, I had no background in this."
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