With an eviction crisis looming, a nonprofit organization that could prevent struggling Marylanders from losing their homes is in turmoil.

Leadership at Maryland Legal Aid, the state’s largest source of free legal services for low-income residents, suddenly fired four senior attorneys last month shortly after they pushed back on a plan to reopen during the coronavirus pandemic, according to two sources with knowledge of the situation. Three of the fired attorneys had criticized an executive-level decision to limit remote work and partially reopen the firm’s 12 offices in a letter last month.

More than 130 former employees of Maryland Legal Aid are now demanding an investigation into the firings, calling them retaliatory. Four current staff members tell WAMU/DCist they want the organization’s executive team to resign.

The sudden departures, which took place one day before state and federal eviction bans expired, have stoked concern that the organization will be less prepared to respond to an expected wave of evictions and other hardships triggered by the health emergency. An estimated 25 to 39% of Maryland households are at risk of eviction, according to an Aspen Institute analysis.

“There’s just this avalanche of cases that are about to be pushed onto us,” said a current Maryland Legal Aid staff attorney who spoke under the condition of anonymity because they fear retaliation from their employer. “It makes absolutely no sense to get rid of [these attorneys] during this unprecedented time. People are going to need attorneys, especially pro bono attorneys that do the work we do.”

Maryland Legal Aid calls itself the “only statewide, direct provider of civil legal services to low income-eligible residents.” The firm served more than 121,000 people in 2016 across all Maryland counties. Its 12 offices employ about 250 staff members, including 150 attorneys, according to a 2017 fact sheet.

Two of the fired lawyers were deeply involved in housing and eviction matters in Maryland. John Marshall, the chief of Maryland Legal Aid’s office in Montgomery County, helped establish a new pilot program to provide same-day legal services to poor residents in landlord-tenant court. Supervising Attorney Lisa Sarro, a housing law specialist in the Anne Arundel County office, is co-counsel on a federal discrimination lawsuit against the city of Annapolis and its housing authority.

Prince George’s County Chief Attorney Blake Fetrow and Anne Arundel Chief Attorney Anita Bailey were also fired July 24. They have both worked for Maryland Legal Aid more than 20 years.

Less than a week before they were fired, Bailey, Fetrow, Marshall and eight other managers co-signed a letter to Maryland Legal Aid’s executive team requesting changes to the firm’s reopening guidelines during the pandemic. Sarro didn’t sign the letter, but she had previously questioned the guidelines.

Maryland Legal Aid Executive Director Wilhelm Joseph Jr., Chief Operating Officer Gustava “Gusty” Taler and a spokesperson for the organization did not return requests for comment. The firm has told other media outlets that it does not comment on personnel matters.

At least two fired chiefs have been replaced on an interim basis, and staff say they’ve heard nothing from management about why the supervisors were fired or who may replace them permanently.

“I’m horrified, because I feel that this was retaliation,” says a current staff attorney who spoke on the condition of anonymity out of fear of reprisal from management. “We haven’t been provided any other explanation. Just sitting here in the silence is this idea that this was retaliatory.”

‘Suspicious’ dismissals

Staff attorneys at Maryland Legal Aid have been working from home since March, with intakes down considerably during statewide court closures. But come early July, leaders at the organization began preparing for a return to normalcy.

Executive leaders announced July 2 that offices would reopen at no more than half capacity on July 20 and resume walk-in services on July 27, timed to the reopening of Maryland’s court system. The guidelines allowed attorneys to sometimes work from home, but with strict requirements to document their work. Remote staff were also expected to have no competing responsibilities between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. — meaning parents without additional childcare help couldn’t watch their young children during the day.

Many staff members were alarmed by the guidelines. They relayed concerns to their supervisors, asking for lenience.

“The plan from executive sounded like they believed our childcare issues are our personal problem,” says a staff attorney who spoke under the condition of anonymity.

In a letter to the executive team, 11 managers praised the productivity of staff working from home, and said such stringent guidelines could send lawyers fleeing from the organization when clients need them most.

“When alternative hours, or other adjustments, would ensure [staff members’] continued, regular work for our organization, it is unacceptable to require them to take leave solely because they are unable to come into the office during a traditional 9-5 business day,” the letter said. “We should not enforce an operational model that reduces our workforce, especially during this critical time when we expect a substantial increase in clients.”

The Maryland Legal Aid Workers Union sent a similar letter to the firm’s Board of Directors chairman and members of the Maryland Legal Aid Reopening Committee on July 22, a Wednesday.

On Thursday, Fetrow, Marshall, Bailey and Sarro were asked to visit Maryland Legal Aid’s headquarters in Baltimore City. They were fired Friday. Other signatories on the letter remain employed.

Executive leaders later agreed with the Maryland Legal Aid Workers’ Union to relax the rules for remote and on-site work. But employees say the firings have shaken staff members.

In a letter to the Gazette, Anne Arundel County District Public Defender William Davis called the circumstances surrounding Bailey and Sarro’s dismissal “suspicious at best.”

Six current Maryland Legal Aid attorneys who spoke with WAMU/DCist call the firings stunning, but compatible with what they describe as a culture of fear within the organization. That culture, they say, threatens the ability of Maryland Legal Aid to serve vulnerable residents — particularly during a time of crisis.

“One of the first things coworkers warned me about when I started at Legal Aid was not getting too involved in the union or speaking out about things,” says an attorney who requested anonymity. The employee says the firings deepened that fear. “If the four of them could be fired, it made it clear that anyone could be fired.”

All four attorneys who were terminated either declined interviews with WAMU or did not return requests for comment. In an earlier interview with the Gazette, Sarro said a human resources representative informed her executives had lost confidence in her ability to lead her office.

‘The straw that broke the camel’s back’

There are signs that staff fear has given way to outrage. Four employees who spoke with WAMU/DCist say they want Joseph and Taler to resign.

“This is the straw that broke the camel’s back,” says one attorney, echoing similar remarks by other Maryland Legal Aid workers. “There have been years and years of this kind of thing from executive staff.”

Neither the Maryland Legal Aid Workers Union nor Maryland Legal Aid alumni have publicly called for Joseph or Taler to resign, and Joseph told a reporter for the Maryland Daily Record he does not plan to step down. The executive director dismissed criticism of the firm’s management as coming from “people who don’t have the facts.“

Staff attorneys say they’re disappointed by what they consider inaction by the firm’s board of directors to take a stand against mistreatment of workers.

“The board of directors really needs to act like a board of directors. They need to take responsibility and accountability for this,” says another current attorney who spoke to WAMU on the condition of anonymity due to fear of retaliation by management. “Do they want to be the board of directors for an organization that is led only by fear?”

WAMU/DCist contacted all 16 members of Maryland Legal Aid’s board and received no response to emailed inquiries.

The calls for change have taken on another layer of significance as Maryland courts prepare to resume eviction hearings at the end of the month, and Congress hasn’t acted to reinstate a national evictions moratorium at residences with federal financing or federally backed mortgages. President Donald Trump took credit for stopping evictions with a recent executive order, but advocates call the directive meaningless.

An executive order from Gov. Larry Hogan offers a defense against evictions if tenants can prove financial hardship related to COVID-19, but many tenants in these suits can’t afford legal representation. In Annapolis alone, more than 200 families in public housing could face eviction this winter. Maryland Legal Aid prioritizes tenants who receive rent assistance through federal programs.

Turmoil inside an organization that has represented low-income Marylanders for decades is bound to affect the people they serve, a staff attorney says.

“There are amazing attorneys that work at Maryland Legal Aid, and they want to do right. That’s why they chose to work here,” the staffer says. “But that talent can be overshadowed by mismanagement.”