Hinds Community College appeals ex-prof suit

JACKSON — A federal appeals court has scheduled arguments on Hinds Community College’s appeal of a workplace retaliation case.

In 2010, the school was ordered to pay a former professor $345,020 after a federal jury found she had been the victim of workplace retaliation.

The 5th U.S. Circuit of Appeals has scheduled arguments in the case for March 6 at the University of Houston Law Center in Houston, Texas.

Renee Summers-Akers, who taught at Hinds from 1982 until her retirement last spring, alleged she was passed over for a promotion in 2006 because she had aided a colleague who was accusing the college of racial discrimination.

For her workplace retaliation claim, she was awarded compensatory damages, as well as back pay she would have earned as the department chairwoman and interest.