After DeSantis suspends Worrell, new leadership fires staffer on maternity leave

Within days of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ suspension of Monique Worrell, an executive staff member at the State Attorney’s Office who was on maternity leave was notified of her termination when investigators with the office accompanied by law enforcement made an unexpected visit to her home.

Keisha Mulfort, the former chief of staff for the State Attorney’s Office and Worrell, went on leave on May 30, the day her daughter was born. She has spent time in the hospital due to birth-related complications, she told the Sentinel.

Her leave, according to her lawyer Fritz Scheller, is pursuant to the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), a federal law providing certain workers job-protected leave when taking time off for medical reasons including pregnancy or birth. Scheller contends that her firing as well as the demands made to her after Worrell’s suspension may violate federal law protecting workers.

On Wednesday morning, Mulfort’s boss, Worrell, was suspended from office by DeSantis and replaced with Orange County judge Andrew Bain. That same morning, Bain’s newly hired chief assistant, Ryan Williams — who unsuccessfully ran against Worrell in 2020 — called Mulfort “from another employee’s private cellphone,” according to a letter of legal representation from Scheller to the State Attorney’s Office.

Williams asked Mulfort “to provide access” and “to change administrative profiles on the office’s social media pages,” according to the letter.

“The demand was perplexing,” the letter said. “As Ms. Mulfort informed [Williams], your office already had the passwords, which had been changed during her leave.”

Another employee from the State Attorney’s Office then “demanded that [Mulfort] respond to Williams” by 9 a.m. on Thursday, wrote Scheller.

Mulfort contacted Scheller Wednesday night and asked if he would act as a mediator between her and the State Attorney’s Office. He agreed to take her on pro bono.

The next morning, Scheller said he sent the State Attorney’s Office the letter, notifying them that he was representing Mulfort and alleging that the demands seem to violate Mulfort’s rights protected under federal law.

“Ms. Mulfort is willing to assist your office with any requests that do not violate her rights under the FLMA,” the attorney’s letter said, later adding, “While I expect that we can easily resolve this matter, I caution you that notwithstanding the recent changes in leadership in your office, your office’s FLMA obligations remain the same.”

In addition to sending the letter, Scheller said he also called the office’s general counsel and Williams but received no reply. Scheller said he wanted to set up a time to meet and work out the matter with the State Attorney’s Office.

On Thursday afternoon, however, multiple personnel from the State Attorney’s Office including sworn investigators and two Orange County deputies went to Mulfort’s house, she told the Sentinel. She was upstairs nursing her daughter when they knocked on her front door.

The State Attorney’s Office employees again requested access to change administrative profiles on the public office’s social media pages, Mulfort said.

During the exchange, Mulfort was handed a letter saying her employment with the State Attorney’s Office was terminated effective Wednesday. Mulfort said that was how she found out she was fired.

The letter also asked that she return a cellphone, iPad, building and parking lot access cards and a Toyota Camry, and further requested that she “[r]elinquish ‘administrator’ rights of the office’s social media accounts.”

“There are no reasons for what they did. … I’m being treated like a criminal, even though I’m someone who has served this community,” she said. “How am I supposed to feel … and what message is that sending?”

In a statement, Orange County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Michelle Guido confirmed deputies accompanied “two sworn law enforcement officers who are investigators at the State Attorney’s Office.”

“The deputies were requested to stand by solely to record the interaction on body worn camera,” Guido said. “While it is not uncommon for deputies to provide standby services, this should have been handled exclusively by the sworn investigators at the State Attorney’s Office.”

“The Sheriff was not aware and did not approve of the standby request,” the statement continued. “Had it been brought to him, he would have rejected this request and left it in the hands of the State Attorney’s Office.”

The State Attorney’s Office has not responded to a request for comment.

Scheller called the situation “highly disturbing” and said he is committed to pursuing all legal remedies.

“To paraphrase the philosopher Hannah Arendt, the cruel actions by DeSantis’ minions in the State Attorney’s office proves that the greatest evil is not necessarily perpetuated by leaders who carry the stench of autocracy but rather is found in the evil committed by nobodies, that is, by human beings who abandon their humanity at the altar of ambition,” Scheller wrote in an email.

_____