Southern University at New Orleans
NEW ORLEANS – A public, historically black university in New Orleans is under fire for discrimination, harassment, and retaliation, according to a federal lawsuit filed last month.
Plaintiff Reashell Lee of Slidell, La., filed her lawsuit September 28 against the Board of Supervisors of Southern University at New Orleans – formerly Southern University and Agricultural and Mechanical College – in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.
According to her seven-page complaint, Lee started working for SUNO in July 2019. She began as a program analyst and later worked as a database analyst. She has two master’s degrees, one in computer science and a second in criminal justice – both from SUNO.
In her filing, she alleges a male employee, also assigned the title of program analyst, was paid “substantially more” for similar work.
“The Plaintiff was required to perform, and in fact did perform, work requiring the same or higher level of education, training, experience, knowledge, and expertise as that performed by the male employee,” Lee noted in her complaint, adding that much of the male employee’s work product was “simply an update or adaptation” of work she previously completed.
She also claims that after suffering an on-the-job injury in August 2019, she became disabled and was later subjected to discrimination and harassment as a result.
“The Plaintiff has sought reasonable accommodations corresponding to disabilities caused by her prior on-the-job injury. For a period of time certain accommodations were in place,” her complaint states.
Lee claims she received specific recommendations for accommodations, including telework; however, SUNO later refused to honor the recommendations.
“This failure is particularly unusual given SUNO's willingness to make the exact same accommodation while Plaintiff is awaiting or recovering from surgery and is directed to do so by worker's compensation claims personnel,” she noted.
In her lawsuit, Lee also claims SUNO’s board wrongly accused her of payroll fraud.
“Plaintiff, upon her transfer from her earlier position as a Database Analyst to Program Analyst was overpaid by virtue of being paid for two positions at the same time. Rather than this occurring as a result of any particular action by the Plaintiff it occurred as a result of erroneous actions or inaction by the Human Resources office at SUNO,” Lee explained in her complaint.
She argues that the only reason the overpayment came to the attention of the human resources department at SUNO was that she was dropped from her health insurance and contacted HR in October 2024 to find out why.
Soon after, a review of payroll records revealed that Lee had been overpaid.
Lee claims she was unaware of the overpayment due to “general confusion” over her pay, including failure to deduct health insurance premiums, over-withholding of taxes, and a dual payment.
T. Bernette Taylor, the SUNO director of human resources, went as far as accusing Lee of knowingly receiving the dual payment and committing felony public payroll fraud in a December 2024 email, which was included in Lee’s filing.
It wasn’t until July 2025 that Taylor admitted the error was caused by SUNO and “sincerely apologized” for the oversight, according to Lee’s complaint.
Lee seeks back pay, front pay, lost wages – past, present, and future – other general damages, attorney’s fees, court costs, and statutory or punitive damages.
Mandeville, La., attorney Donald L. Hyatt is representing Lee in the action.
