Gordon L. Joyner (Courtesy photo)

The lawyer who oversaw the Georgia Commission on Equal Opportunity for more than 10 years until he was ousted by Gov. Nathan Deal in 2011 has sued the governor and the State Accounting Office for unpaid travel reimbursements dating back to 2006.

Gordon Joyner, who served as executive director and administrator of the GCEO from January 2001 to October 2011, said in two lawsuits that he has been seeking reimbursement for expense requests from 2006 through 2011 and that Open Record Act requests he first filed in 2012 for records and travel policies have been unmet.

Joyner again sought the reimbursements and records more than a year ago, but his filings said he “continues to carry the pecuniary burden of non-reimbursement for expenses incurred in good faith while performing state government travel during and within his employment” at the GCEO.

In an email, Joyner said the sums sought plus accrued interest “are in the thousands of dollars.”

He noted that he is also requesting attorney fees and litigation expenses under the ORA, as well as civil fines for violations of its provisions.

Joyner said the expenses represent mandatory trips to training and policy conferences for the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

“These matters are being reviewed by our Commercial Transactions and Litigation Division,” said Katie Byrd, communications director for Attorney General Chris Carr.

According to his filings, Joyner sent a letter to the Office of Planning and Budget returning his state ID badge and parking pass in November 2011, noting he also had several submitted reimbursements that had not been paid.

Emails to Joyner from then-state Accounting Officer Danny Arflin said the requests were “working their way through the system” and that they would be paid as they were approved.

They weren't approved, and in 2012 Joyner sent a “demand for processing of State Travel Expense Reimbursement Requests” to the State Accounting Office and OPB Budget seeking reimbursement for a dozen unpaid requests for trips between 2006 and 2011.

The filings indicate that in April 2017 Joyner sent an ORA request to the governor's office for records relating to travel reimbursements and that some were apparently provided.

Joyner said the governor's office provided a “minimal response” to his requests, “mostly only returning photocopies to me of my own requests … and providing no requested copies of emails and other of their correspondence.”

In July 2017, Joyner wrote two letters to current State Accounting Officer Alan Skelton. One noted that his 2012 reimbursement requests remained pending and sought their status. The second was another ORA request for any messages or communications relating to his reimbursements, as well as the relevant regulations and policies in effect when he was working for the state.

Joyner contacted Carr's office after receiving no response, and in October 2017 Skelton forwarded him an email exchange with Deputy AG Wright Banks referring to the matter and assured Joyner that Skelton was “going to look into why a response was not issued by SAO.”

 Joyner again contacted Skelton and the AG's office seeking the information in November 2017.

Neither the AG's office nor the SAO had provided any further response as of last month, Joyner's filings said.

 Joyner filed a complaint on Nov. 19 to enforce the Open Records Act requests against the SAO.

He filed a mandamus action the following day demanding that Deal order the SAO to pay the reimbursement requests along with accumulated interest “without arbitrary, capricious, or punitive abuse of discretion or unequal treatment foisted on Petitioner Joyner vis-a-vis other similarly situated present or former state government employees, service providers, contractors, or vendors whose pecuniary and financial entitlements from the state of Georgia vested prior to the date of respondent Deal taking office.”

Now in solo practice in Atlanta, Joyner spent 12 years as a Fulton County commissioner before his appointment as GCEO director by former Gov. Roy Barnes. The elevated walkway over Pryor Street connecting the Fulton County Government Center and the county courthouse is emblazoned the “Gordon L. Joyner Bridge.”