The stepmother of the white Atlanta police officer charged with shooting dead Rayshard Brooks was fired from her HR director job because she made racist comments and falsified her resume, a new lawsuit claims.
Melissa Rolfe was fired on June 18 as the HR director of the Atlanta-based Equity Prime Mortgage a week after her stepson Garrett Rolfe fatally shot Brooks, a 27-year-old black man, in a Wendy’s parking lot.
Rolfe repeatedly said on national TV and in social media posts that she hadn’t done anything to warrant the firing and that it was a result of being the officer’s stepmom.
The company, however, filed a defamation lawsuit against her on Tuesday claiming she has created a smear campaign against them and that her claims are completely false.
They claim Rolfe conspired with far-right Republican congressional candidate Marjorie Taylor Greene, who repeatedly posted on social media in support of her, to create a conservative ‘media firestorm’.
President Trump on Wednesday congratulated Greene for winning the primary in Georgia.
Melissa Rolfe was fired on June 18 as the HR director of the Atlanta-based Equity Prime Mortgage a week after her stepson Garrett Rolfe fatally shot Rashard Brooks in a Wendy’s parking lot. She is pictured in a Fox News interview after being fired
Rolfe claimed repeatedly that she was fired because she was the stepmother of Garrett Rolfe (left), the Atlanta cop charged with murdering Rayshard Brooks in a Wendy’s parking lot on June 13
In the lawsuit, Equity Prime Mortgage argues that Rolfe was actually under investigation for misconduct prior to her stepson shooting dead Brooks on June 13.
The company claims Rolfe, who only worked for EPM for five months, was the subject of repeated complaints from staff about her racist and offensive comments.
They also claim that an investigation, which carried on after the shooting, uncovered that Rolfe had lied about her experience to land the HR director job in the first place.
The lawsuit claims Rolfe was first reprimanded less than a month after starting because she joked about conducting rectal temperature checks in the office.
A month later she was reprimanded again for referring to employees as ‘savages’, the complaint alleges.
Two month after that, Rolfe was reported for allegedly calling two employees ‘f**king b***es’, saying an employee had only been hired because she had ‘big boobs’ and also making racist comments.
Those complaints prompted the company to launch an investigation, the lawsuit claims.
The day prior to Rolfe’s stepson shooting dead Brooks, the filing says EPM CEO Eddy Perez met with Rolfe to notify her of the latest complaints that had been made against her.
Rolfe repeatedly said on national TV and in social media posts that she hadn’t done anything to warrant the firing and that it was a result of being the officer’s stepmom. The company, however, filed a defamation lawsuit against her on Tuesday claiming she has created a smear campaign against them and that her claims are completely false
At the time of her firing, EPM put out a statement saying Rolfe had been let go because she violated company policy and created an ‘uncomfortable’ and ‘hostile’ working environment as she was transitioning to a leave of absence granted by the firm
The complaint says Rolfe became ‘enraged’ and Perez opted to cut the meeting short, telling her he would follow up again after investigating further.
In the wake of the fatal shooting the next day, the lawsuit details that Rolfe asked to work from home the following Monday and then subsequently granted her eight weeks of paid leave in light of her family situation despite being under investigation for serious misconduct.
The lawsuit claims Rolfe was first reprimanded less than a month after starting because she joked about conducting rectal temperature checks in the office. A month later she was reprimanded again for referring to employees as ‘savages’, the complaint alleges
The company continued its investigation during this time and says a ‘flood of employees came forward’ with complaints about her ‘wildly unprofessional and hostile conduct’.
Among the complaints were that she called an employee was a ‘dumb b***h’ who can only attract men because she ‘must suck d**k really good’.
She also allegedly told a black woman who dates black men that she needed ‘to get outside the box and upgrade [her] standards’.
The company says they also learned that Rolfe had lied on her resume to get the job and that she had never previously worked as a HR director like she had claimed.
The lawsuit says that after learning she had lied about her experience, Rolfe was fired on June 18.
‘Notably, when Rolfe was informed that she was being terminated, she did not ask why; she knew that she had been repeatedly reprimanded and that – before her stepson shot Brooks – the company had begun an investigation into multiple complaints against her,’ the lawsuit says.
The company claims Rolfe, with the help of Greene, immediately set out to defame EPM and peddle the false narrative that she had been wrongly terminated.
They claim Rolfe conspired with far-right Republican congressional candidate Marjorie Taylor Greene, who repeatedly posted on social media in support of her, to create a conservative ‘media firestorm’
President Trump on Wednesday congratulated Greene for winning the primary in Georgia
Rolfe said repeatedly in interviews, including one with Fox News’ Tucker Carlson, that she didn’t know why she had been fired.
The company says the falsehoods resulted in a ‘social media mob’ making death threats and organizing a boycott of the mortgage company.
The lawsuit also says EPM was bombarded with ‘furious messages from people who believed the lie’.
Perez reported the death threats to the FBI and hired a private security firm to protect people working in EPM’s office, his family and himself, the lawsuit claims.
At the time of her firing, EPM put out a statement saying Rolfe had been let go because she violated company policy and created an ‘uncomfortable’ and ‘hostile’ working environment as she was transitioning to a leave of absence granted by the firm.
‘Melissa Rolfe’s termination was a direct result of her actions in the workplace and violation of company policy,’ the company said.
Body camera video provided by the Atlanta Police Department shows Rayshard Brooks speaking with Officer Rolfe in the parking lot of a Wendy’s restaurant on June 12 prior to the shooting
‘While working with Melissa as she transitioned to a leave of absence granted by our organization, we discovered she violated company policy and created an uncomfortable working environment for many of our employees.
‘As an HR director, she ultimately lost the confidence of her peers, leadership and many employees who no longer felt comfortable engaging with her.
‘We value diversity of thought and respect Melissa’s personal views and the views of all employees; however, when those views create a hostile working environment, we must make difficult decisions to part ways.’
The news of Rolfe’s firing came just hours after her stepson was taken into custody after being charged with felony murder and a string of other charges over Brooks’ shooting death in a Wendy’s parking lot.
He was fired by the city’s police department a day after the shooting.
Rolfe was charged with felony murder and 10 other counts after video showed him shooting Brooks twice in the back with his service handgun after a scuffle in which Brooks stole his taser.
A second officer on the scene, Devin Brosnan, did not discharge his weapon. He faces a handful of lesser charges, including aggravated assault and violation of his oath.
The killing of Brooks came amid a national wave of protests sparked by the May 25 death of George Floyd, a black man who died after a white Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes.