Former Hidalgo County Head Start director sues over termination

Former Hidalgo County Head Start Program executive director Teresa Flores sued the organization and the county in late July over what she alleges was a discriminatory dismissal last year.

Flores, who held her title for about 20 years, is suing for monetary relief between $250,000 and $1 million.

In court documents, Flores, 76, claims that she was discriminated against based on her age and disability.

The suit notes that the program’s policy council replaced Flores with Irma Pena, who it argues is significantly younger and less qualified to lead.

“Plaintiff had received nearly 20 years of positive evaluations during her employment as the Executive Director,” it reads. “Plaintiff had received awards, accolades and positive response from the community and reviewing governmental agencies and was highly qualified for the position that she was terminated from by Chairperson [Avelina] Segovia who is also substantially younger by more than 10 years than Plaintiff.”

The suit also alleges that Segovia set the meeting in which Flores was terminated during her scheduled recovery from a surgery.

“Plaintiff had requested leave as a reasonable accommodation to recover from surgery, but Segovia was motivated to terminate Plaintiff based on her age and disability,” it reads. “Pena, who replaced Plaintiff, was not under any disability at the time of Plaintiff’s termination … . Incredibly, Segovia chose to conduct the meeting when Plaintiff had requested leave to recover from her surgery based on her disability.”

Flores’ termination and the events that surrounded it were contentious affairs with significant infighting in the program’s policy council preceding the termination.

Flores’ administration’s decision to remove a council representative based on eligibility requirements led to a reversal and that representative’s reinstatement by the council during an unruly meeting.

The termination followed soon after and was accompanied by more fighting. One representative on the council resigned in the middle of a meeting, while another survived an effort to have him booted from his seat in the organization.

Flores, at the time, said that “personal vendettas and political motivations” were at play.

The Hidalgo County Commissioner’s Court did not discuss Flores’ ouster during a meeting that September despite her attorney calling for a public explanation. The court did acknowledge receiving communication about the termination.

“There are no legitimate reasons that were provided to justify Plaintiff’s termination as they are false and pretextual,” the suit reads.

As of early Monday afternoon, the county had not filed a response to the lawsuit.