51黑料

Dr. Kanika Cunningham is being sued by a former health department employee who says Cunningham told her last year to lie about a Sunshine Law records request.

In a suit filed Wednesday in 51黑料 County Circuit Court, says she refused to lie about the request and instead filed a written report about the incident with her immediate supervisor on Sept. 5.

Then on Sept. 6, the suit alleges, Cunningham forced Belics to allow her car to be searched 鈥� a search Cunningham personally conducted on the health department lot in Berkeley, in front of Belics鈥� fellow employees.

鈥淩honda Belics鈥� actions are heroic. All government employees should rise up like Rhonda and hold government responsible,鈥� said Mark Pedroli, Belics鈥� attorney.

The lawsuit, which also names the county as a defendant, argues that Belics鈥� civil rights were violated during the search.

Sara Dayley, a health department spokesperson, said Dayley said Belics鈥� allegations 鈥渉ave no merit and we look forward to holding (Belics) accountable in a court of law.鈥�

Dayley said Belics 鈥渋nvited鈥� Cunningham to observe items inside her trunk after department leaders were told Belics had come into the building before office hours and was seen removing items and putting them into her car.

Belics worked as an office service coordinator and helped process Sunshine Law requests. She quit earlier this year after 15 years with the department.

Belics alleges that when she got into the office on Sept. 6, Cunningham confronted her and demanded to search her vehicle.

Pedroli said Belics felt coerced and did not believe she had any option other than to allow Cunningham to search her car.

Cunningham also enlisted two others to accompany her to search Belics鈥� car, a security guard and deputy health director Damon Broadus, Pedroli said.

Nothing improper was found during the search and no action was ever taken against Belics, the suit says.

Pedroli said Cunningham was vague with Belics about specifically what she was looking for in the search. He added that Cunningham took several blank notebooks from Belics鈥� car and has never returned them.

Belics鈥� suit asserts that the search was 鈥渦nreasonable and highly offensive鈥� and caused Belics distress, anxiety, outrage, humiliation, loss of privacy and loss of faith in her government.

The specific allegations are invasion of privacy; unlawful retaliation; violation of state whistleblower statutes; and civil conspiracy, which involves coordinated actions to deprive someone of their rights.

On each of two counts, Belics is asking for $100,000. On the other two, she seeks compensation for loss of employment, lost income and benefits and other damages.

Belics鈥� suit is connected to another lawsuit that Pedroli filed last month.

In that filing, Lisa Pearse claims that Cunningham and her department violated the Sunshine Law by lying about the existence of a shelter-wide euthanasia plan for the county animal shelter.

It was Pearse鈥檚 request for records about the euthanasia plan that Belics was instructed to say did not exist, Pedroli said.

But the plan did exist and Cunningham later conceded that fact, but added that she 鈥渘ever planned to use it.鈥�

Cunningham was named health department director in January 2023; she was paid $198,000 in 2024.

The two civil suits about the euthanasia plan are not the only health department disruptions in recent months.

In September, the Post-Dispatch reported that Cunningham hired her daughter, Ateshia Turner, as an inspector and gave her a raise. A spokesperson for County Executive Sam Page noted that Cunningham did not directly hire Turner.

Then, several waves of negative news came in November:

Cunningham came under fire when it was announced that the department would no longer use volunteers from the community to help at the county鈥檚 animal shelter.

At that time, Cunningham said she planned on changing the shelter鈥檚 operations and that 鈥渋t is going to look completely different, with a different mission and a different vision.鈥�

No details of that vision or mission were provided, and the Animal Protective Association, which provided the volunteers for the shelter, has since withdrawn from its agreement with the county.

Later in November, she drew fire from some County Council members, who claimed Cunningham misled them at a budget hearing when she said she might lay off some employees.

Council members later discovered that layoff notices had already been sent out to workers 鈥� about two weeks before Cunningham appeared before the council.

Also in November, the Post-Dispatch reported that both Cunningham and Page may have oversold the importance of a pending health program.

The pair trumpeted the fact that the federal government had accepted the health department鈥檚 application to achieve to operate its health clinics as Federal Qualified Health Care centers.

But the acceptance of the application appears to be significantly short of the 鈥渕onumental鈥� accomplishment touted by Page and Cunningham. Rather, it simply was a step in the process, still ongoing, of getting the program recognized.

Then in January, the Post-Dispatch reported that a high-ranking health department supervisor, Emily Varner, resigned because of Cunningham鈥檚 鈥渢oxic management.鈥�

Varner said she was subjected to harassment, retaliation and bullying for 18 months. She also said that because of Cunningham鈥檚 mismanagement, seven top managers have quit in less than a year.