Federal Suits against Former Pastor Allege Sexual Misconduct

By R. Robin McDonald
Daily Report
November 13, 2015

http://www.dailyreportonline.com/home/id=1202742398245/Federal-Suits-Against-Former-Pastor-Allege-Sexual-Misconduct?mcode=1202617074542&curindex=0&slreturn=20151014114227

A Douglasville Baptist church is being sued in federal court in Atlanta over church officials' firing of an elementary school teacher who reported that the church pastor had sexually harassed and groped her, then threatened her if she reported him.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed the suit Nov. 2 after finding cause to believe that Marsha Pearson, a teacher at The King's Way Christian School in Douglasville, had been fired illegally in retaliation for her complaints about William Wininger Sr., former pastor of The King's Way Baptist Church, which operates the private Christian academy.

The EEOC sued the church and the school on Pearson's behalf after church officials told EEOC lawyers they were "not interested" in engaging in an informal conciliation process that would have focused on eliminating what the EEOC described as "the unlawful employment practices" that led to Pearson's termination, according to the civil complaint.