A private D.C. high school security guard who was fired after she provoked her boss into a lunchtime brawl won’t receive the unemployment benefits she requested, the D.C. Court of Appeals has ruled.
Angel Brown was hired by Hawk One Security on March 22, 2007, and posted at Ballou Senior High School in Southeast. Her job with the now-bankrupt security company lasted less than a year. She and her boss, Hawk One employee Sgt. Diane Williams, were both fired soon after their March 11, 2008, fight. Brown applied for unemployment benefits, and was denied.
She appealed her case to the court of appeals, which recently denied her compensation, saying her behavior constituted “gross misconduct.” She did not explain in documents why she deserves the benefits.
The Brown-Williams duel started a few days before their March 11 confrontation, when Brown was hit in the face by a piece of paper thrown by a special education student, court documents said. Brown dragged the student into the school’s security office, where documents say she told Williams, “if he hits me in the face again with another piece of paper it won’t be that’s it, that’s all.”
Williams then reportedly told Brown she shouldn’t threaten students, D.C. Office of Administrative Hearings records said.
Over the next few days, Brown spread the rumor to high school staff and other security officers that Williams had told the student to go home and tell his mother that Brown had threatened him.
The physical battle began when Williams confronted Brown outside the cafeteria in front of students on March 11, asking Brown if they could talk, the records said. Brown replied that she couldn’t speak to Williams without a union representative present.
“If you cannot talk with me without a union representative, then keep my name out of your mouth before I smack the [expletive] out of you,” Williams reportedly responded, as she turned her back and walked away.
Not to be outdone, Brown chased after Williams and stood in front of the sergeant, documents said. Now face-to-face, Brown repeatedly said, “Who are you going to smack?”
Williams punched Brown in the mouth.
The two were separated by a third security officer, investigated and fired.
Hawk One Security lost its contract to protect D.C. schools and government buildings a year later. Before it could complete its existing contract, the company went belly up, shuttering its doors in October 2009.
