A former director of Raleigh’s Solid Waste Services (SWS) department is suing the city for allegedly retaliating against him and violating the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), claims that the city denies.
Stan Joseph’s lawsuit, which has not previously been reported, coincides with complaints from current SWS employees that point to ongoing issues in the department. One SWS driver spoke publicly about safety concerns on the job earlier this summer, and INDY spoke to several more who agree that there are safety and management problems under SWS’s new leadership.
Joseph served as director of SWS from July 2018 until he was put on administrative leave in July 2024 and subsequently fired in November 2024. In his lawsuit—which he filed last summer and has continued to update as recently as last week—Joseph says he complained to his supervisors about the city’s “dysfunctional Human Resources department” several times in 2020 and 2021, flagging “specific areas of policy, practice, compliance and law violations” in the HR department “that were concerning and negatively impacting employees.” Joseph claims he brought his concerns to an assistant city manager, the HR director, the assistant to the city manager, and city manager Marchell Adams-David, and they did not take action.
The city, in its answer to Joseph’s lawsuit, denies that he ever lodged these complaints. According to the city, Joseph and Adams-David spoke once about how Joseph “indicated he disagreed with requirements of some [HR] policies and with some HR staff.”
INDY asked Joseph and the City of Raleigh if they could elaborate on the alleged problems in HR that Joseph alluded to in his lawsuit. The city declined to comment because the suit is ongoing. Joseph wrote in an email that “my concerns were about policies and practices that directly impacted employees, law, and the department’s ability to operate effectively.”
The lawsuit goes on to describe what Joseph considers to be a pattern of retaliation against him. First, he says, the city launched an investigation into his use of profanity with a staff member. Joseph’s and the city’s characterizations of this investigation are very different: he maintains that it was “bogus,” the only instance, to his knowledge, when the city had investigated a department head for using profanity.
The City of Raleigh, on the other hand, wrote in its response to Joseph’s suit that it launched the investigation in response to a complaint from a subordinate of Joesph’s who “alleged that he felt targeted, was subjected to a hostile work environment, and that [Joseph’s] behavior toward him was unprofessional.” The investigation ended with Joseph receiving a written warning in January 2022.
“That situation came during a period of tremendous stress,” Joseph wrote in an email to INDY. “Like anyone, I’m human, and I made a mistake in expressing frustration. In my years of leadership, professionalism and accountability were always priorities. To my knowledge, no one else had ever been subjected to a formal investigation for a similar slip, which is why I believe the investigation into that moment was disproportionate and retaliatory.”
Joseph maintains in the lawsuit that he received “exceptional” performance reviews up until the investigation. The city contests this but acknowledges that his direct supervisor congratulated him for improving morale in the SWS department in 2020 and that Adams-David told him he was “a well-regarded member of the Management Team” in 2022.
Joseph writes in his suit that the investigation and warning exacerbated his PTSD symptoms—he has PTSD as a result of several combat deployments with the U.S. Air Force. He writes that he experienced migraines, acute chest pains, and panic attacks and that he requested disability accommodations for the heightened symptoms in February 2022. Joseph claims the city did not approve his accommodations promptly, but the city denies this.
Joseph also claims that throughout his employment with the city, Adams-David “verbally denigrated individuals with PTSD.” He claims that Adams-David called people with PTSD “crazies” and “low energy” and specifically called Joseph “low energy” during a meeting with him and his team. Joseph and his lawyers maintain this is an ADA violation.
The city forcefully denies all this, including Adams-David’s alleged comments. “It is specifically denied that Adams-David referred to individuals diagnosed with PTSD as ‘crazies’ or any other disparaging term,” its answer to the lawsuit reads.
Adams-David did not respond to a request for comment. A city spokesperson reiterated that the city had no comment on the pending litigation and noted that the city manager is not a party to the pending legal action.
At one point in its response to the lawsuit, lawyers for the city question the relevance of the ADA to Joseph’s complaint, writing that “upon information and belief, [Joseph] is not a qualified individual with a disability within the meaning of the ADA.”
Joseph details in his complaint how he was placed on administrative leave and eventually fired, which he considers to be further retaliation for his complaints about the HR department. He is seeking attorney’s fees and punitive damages from the City of Raleigh and has asked for a jury trial, which has not been scheduled. The most current version of his lawsuit notes that he has been unable to find work since he was fired. He wrote to INDY that he decided to bring the suit for “accountability and fairness.”
“I raised concerns because I believed employees and residents deserved transparency, safety, and respect,” Joseph wrote. “Unfortunately, the response I experienced made it harder to do my job and impacted my health. I hope this case leads to meaningful changes that support city employees and strengthen the services our community depends on.”
Since Joseph’s firing, Gregory Jenkins II has taken over as interim director of SWS. He previously served as an assistant director in a different city department.
In June, SWS employee Charlen Parker spoke during the city council’s public comment session about serious safety and management issues in his department. He said that truck drivers are being told to work in unsafe conditions with faulty vehicles and that department leaders are treating their workers as “disposable.”
Earlier this summer, INDY spoke to four more SWS employees who said their supervisors are exposing them and the public to unnecessary risk by ignoring safety concerns. They said that when they raise these complaints with their supervisors, they get assigned worse routes and older trucks and receive negative performance reviews.
In response to the employees’ complaints, Jenkins wrote in an email to INDY that “our main concern is that our workers are safe when they perform this important job, and that they arrive home safely at the end of the day.”
INDY also sent the city manager’s office detailed questions earlier this summer—about SWS employees’ complaints, the high rate of workplace first-aid and injury claims in the department, and the condition of the SWS fleet. A city spokesperson did not directly respond to the questions but noted that most SWS employees received 11 percent pay raises this year to bring them up to the market rate. The spokesperson also said the city will complete a “staffing survey” next year to understand whether its departments are adequately staffed.
Chloe Courtney Bohl is a Report for America corps member. Follow her on Bluesky or reach her at [email protected]. Comment on this story at [email protected].