Former St. Louis Personnel Director Sonya Jenkins-Gray is suing the city to be reinstated, claiming her firing violated the charter’s antidiscrimination provision.
The suit filed Wednesday in St. Louis Circuit Court also argues that the city’s Civil Service Commission acted outside its charter authority by operating under a two-member board, rather than a three-member board, following the resignation of a commissioner and by relying on a hearing officer to preside over the process.
The commission recommended that Mayor Tishaura Jones fire Jenkins-Gray following a months-long hearing that stemmed from a July 2024 incident where she traveled to Jefferson City in a city vehicle with a subordinate, Anthony Byrd. Jenkins-Gray said she went to retrieve personal documents from her car…