A DC nonprofit leader is pursuing legal action for wrongful termination

After being let go from a position with an initiative fighting for gender equality in tech jobs, a DC nonprofit employee is pursuing legal action against her former employer.

Last week, Ayanna Smith was let go from her role as managing director of GET Cities DC, which is operated by the SecondMuse Foundation, a nonprofit that supports women leaders in technology. After experiencing what she described as discrimination, she has filed a complaint with DC’s Office of Human Rights (OHR) and is consulting with lawyers.

According to Smith, the conflict began in early February, while she was experiencing health issues. Amid negotiations for a contract with Porchfest DC: Southeast Edition, she told GET Cities/SecondMuse Foundation leadership that she was on the board of that organization prior to signing the contract. In the following weeks, she said, she experienced a back-and-forth conflict with SecondMuse Foundation leadership that included scrutiny over travel accommodations for a company retreat taking place in Miami. As a result, Smith said she filed a formal complaint in which she said that she felt targeted, which she alleged was never addressed.

Smith said she was let go from the organization last Wednesday with no official reason since she’s an at-will employee. But she felt that it was an act of retaliation, and has since filed the aforementioned complaint with the OHR. In accordance with district policy, OHR was unable to confirm whether or not a complaint had been filed.

“You don’t fire [an employee] when they tell you that they have to prioritize their health and that the drama that you’re creating is impacting their health,” Smith said. “That’s not how you resolve that.”

According to Smith, other employees have encountered similar conflicts of interest in the past without any consequences. She said leadership asked multiple times to use her own WeWork account to reserve space for SecondMuse Foundation employees, resulting in overage charges to her credit card with the foundation — meaning that corporation costs were paid with foundation funds.

“You can’t enforce the rules with some people and not enforce them with others,” Smith said. “That is the very work that we do at GET Cities. That’s the work that we do. That’s what discrimination looks like. That’s how it shows up.”

In response to Smith’s claims, SecondMuse spokesperson Taylor McLaughlin responded to Smith’s claims by offering Technical.ly the following statement and declining to provide further information about her removal on the record.

“At the SecondMuse Foundation, we believe in treating all of our employees with respect, fairness, and equality,” the statement reads. “We take discrimination and harassment seriously, and we have a zero-tolerance policy. We value and care for our employees, our communities, and our partners. Our actions are based on these values, and we wish Ayanna the best in her future endeavors.”

According to Smith, GET Cities received five years of funding from Pivotal Ventures which is scheduled to end next year. Because of this, she said, the entire GET Cities initiative — which also operates in Miami, Florida and Chicago, Illinois — is set to sunset in 2024. McLaughlin countered this explanation by saying that SecondMuse has “no plans to sunset GET Cities” at present.

This is a developing story.