Ousted Iowa DHS director files $2M wrongful discharge claim

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The former head of the Iowa Department of Human Services has filed a complaint with the state seeking $2 million for wrongful discharge.

Jerry Foxhoven says in documents filed Thursday with the State Appeal Board that Gov. Kim Reynolds, her chief of staff and legal counsel fired Foxhoven on June 17 as he questioned whether it was legal for the DHS to pay the salary of a governor’s staffer who had moved from the agency to the governor’s office.

Foxhoven, known for his frequent workplace praise of the late rapper Tupac Shakur, says his firing was done to prevent him from enforcing his legal right to disclose information he believed was illegal.

Reynolds has said Foxhoven never raised such concerns and never asked the staff for a legal opinion.