County employee, cooperating with Greenway investigation, adds harassment and retaliation claims
Former Beaufort County employee Lisa Lynch alleged sexual harassment and retaliation against suspended county administrator Eric Greenway in a statement she released through her lawyer on Wednesday.
Her statement says she was already cooperating with the ongoing investigation and alleges her termination on Tuesday was retaliatory.
In the statement, she begins: “I met Eric Greenway socially in 2022. He pursued a romantic relationship with me, and I agreed to a couple of dates with him. While flattered by his affection, I was not interested in that kind of connection, and I made it clear to him we could be friends but not romantically involved.”
Lynch was hired by Greenway to be the county’s director of wellness and began work on April 24, 2023.
Lynch then described her interactions with Greenway in the early days of her new job: “Just two weeks into my tenure with the County, I attended a party with my significant other. Greenway was also in attendance. He was openly agitated and made it clear that my act of bringing my boyfriend to a social event was offensive to him. After he left the party, Greenway sent a string of emails and text messages directly threatening me and my livelihood. He financially threatened my family and professional associates as well. I was shocked by the behavior.”
She claims to have reported this behavior. “I expressed my distress to management of Beaufort County and was assured that the matter would be handled. I then made a formal complaint of discrimination and retaliation. The complaint was investigated, and, despite the open threats, no wrongdoing was found on Greenway’s part. I then filed a charge with the EEOC for discrimination,” Lynch’s statement says.
The statement says Lynch “was approached by law enforcement to become the main witness against Greenway in some suspected criminal activity. Although I was hesitant to do so, I agreed and promised to tell the truth about all matters involving Greenway. It is my understanding that the investigation is still underway.”
Lynch’s statement goes on to say, “Yesterday ... I was terminated by Greenway’s assistant administrator for a pretextual reason. I have no doubt that I was terminated for my reports of harassment, my complaints of the same, and my participation as a witness in the criminal investigation.”
Elementzal contract
A contract was signed in January between Beaufort County and the consulting firm Elementzal LLC. The exact details of this contract remain unknown, but The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette submitted a FOIA request for the contract on July 15 and is awaiting a response from Beaufort County.
What is known is that Elementzal, operated by Lynch and her sister-in-law Angie Hassinger, describe themselves on their website as “consulting for opioids.” They each have professional bios and photos on the site.
Between March and June, the county paid Elementzal nearly $66,000 for services. The newspapers have requested copies of those invoices.
On Monday, Greenway was placed on paid leave by the council. In addition, four motions started a county investigation into how money has been spent since January.
The County Council’s finance committee is tasked with finding a law firm to undertake several audits looking into purchases, awarded contracts, the county’s procurement codes and the county’s purchase card system.
Calls and text messages to Greenway and Council Chairman Joe Passiment were not returned Wednesday evening.
This story was originally published July 26, 2023 at 4:58 PM.
