Tiffany Henyard faces lawsuit from former Thornton Township employee

THORNTON TOWNSHIP, Ill. - Thornton Township Supervisor and Dolton Mayor Tiffany Henyard was hit with yet another lawsuit, this time by a former township employee. 

Dwayne Thrash, a long-serving former Maintenance Manager and current President of the Thornton Township Trustees of Schools, filed a complaint Thursday for wrongful termination. 

According to the lawsuit, his termination followed his refusal to comply with an alleged scheme proposed by Supervisor Henyard and her Special Assistant, Keith Freeman.

Attorney Matthew R. Custardo of Custardo Law LLC filed the lawsuit on behalf of Thrash. 

"Tiffany Henyard and Keith Freeman terminated a twenty-year public servant just because he refused to go along with their schemes and conspiracies," Custardo said.

The complaint detailed an incident when Henyard and Freeman allegedly pressured Thrash into firing someone and replacing them with a candidate of their choosing. 

Henyard and Freeman wanted Thrash to fire Thornton Township Trustees of Schools’ attorney Sarie E. Winner Keller of Forum Advising LLC and replace her with, Del Galdo Law Group LLC, according to the lawsuit.

Trash was given a $10,000 raise in April 2023 to take effect the following month. 

Henyard and Freeman allegedly called Thrash on Mother's Day last year to see if he'd attend a special meeting to go through with the termination. 

Freeman allegedly took Thrash out to multiple breakfasts and lunches, once asking him, "are you going to go along with it?"

According to the complaint, Henyard and Freeman called an unauthorized special meeting for the Township School Board, but Thrash refused to attend and the change in attorneys could not be finalized. 

Thrash was contacted by the Director of Transitional Operations for the township and was told his employment had been terminated due to "misconduct" and "insubordination." 

Thrash sued for lost wages and emotional distress. He also sought injunctive relief to prevent further unlawful employment practices within the Township administration.

This wasn't the first lawsuit brought against Henyard. The Village of Dolton and Henyard were sued by a barbershop owner who claims his business license was improperly denied.

The full complaint can be found here and is attached below.