Employee resigns after Ayala ‘tarred and feathered' social media post, Seminole County official says

An assistant finance director in the Seminole County Clerk and Comptroller’s Office has resigned from his position after making a social media post calling for State Attorney Aramis Ayala to be “tarred and feathered.”

Seminole County Clerk Grant Maloy made the announcement Wednesday on his Facebook page.

Stan McCullars had been on paid administrative leave following the post, which also called for Ayala to face the death penalty over her stance on capital punishment.

“As stated earlier, these comments neither reflect my beliefs or those of the Clerk of the Court and Comptroller’s Office, nor were made on behalf of, or by, our organization,” Maloy’s Facebook post said.

Ayala’s office filed a formal complaint against McCullars after the posts came to light.

To keep a similar situation from happening in the future, Maloy said he had put in several staff guidelines in place.

Implement a written Social Media Policy to be incorporated in our Employee Manual: The current employee manual is outdated and silent on this issue. Upon entering office in January, I initiated the process of updating the Employee Manual to modern standards. Regrettably, in this case, an incident arose prior to our implementation of the planned Social Media Policy;

Provide employee training: Our office has been in the process of creating employee training rooms and programs to ensure our employees are equipped with the continuing education training and skills needed to perform their jobs in the most professional manner. Diversity and Inclusion Training for Deputy Clerks will be a component of that training;

Announce the creation of a separate Human Resource Department: Upon entering office, I made it a priority to create a HR Department to provide our employees with the proper resources needed to be successful in their positions; and

Resolve the recent employee personnel matter: The Clerk's office has accepted the resignation of the employee.

“Let me emphasize again that the Clerk of the Court and Comptroller, our management team and employees do not tolerate or condone discriminatory behavior toward our customers, coworkers or the public, and we stand by our office’s continuing commitment to diversity and inclusion,” Maloy said.

Cox Media Group