LOUISVILLE,Ky — The Louisville Urban League’s former President and CEO Dr. Kish Cumi Price is suing to get her job back in a lawsuit against her former employer filed Friday.
The complaint was filed with the Jefferson Circuit Court Friday and lays out a number of issues that Dr. Price says she discovered in the months following her hiring.
Price alleges she began to witness the misappropriation of grants and other funds soon after taking over as president and CEO. This includes millions of dollars being used to pay off a loan without notifying donors, and a federal grant used in a way it was not intended to be.
A large porting of the lawsuit centers on issues between the Louisville Urban League and the Norton Healthcare Sports & Learning Center, which is a separate nonprofit.
This includes conflicts where Urban League staff was reportedly working for the Sports & Learning Center, but were still on the Urban League’s payroll.
The former president of the Louisville Urban League, Sadiqa Reynolds, is the CEO of the Sports & Learning Center.
Price later fired the Urban League’s chief operating officer, who also served as the Sports & Learning Center’s board treasurer. The suit says “Price was concerned of what was becoming an evident conflict.”
Shortly after the COO was fired, Price, Reynolds, and the Urban League’s board chair met. In that meeting, the lawsuit claims “Reynolds shockingly asked Price and the Board Chair Sisnett, ‘Am I in trouble?’ Reynolds next warned Price that she, Price, had better watch whom she fires from thereon.”
Between January and March 2022, the lawsuit says Price continued to investigate and discover more conflicts of interest between the Urban League and Sports & Learning Center.
The suit states the chief financial officer of the Urban League was also acting as the unofficial CFO of the Sports & Learning Center. The CFO also had a consulting business whose clients contracted with the center.
The suit went on to say Price was fired on March 20 “immediately before the Finance and Audit Committee meeting in direct retaliation for her performing her statutory obligations as the President and CEO.”
On March 17, the Urban League’s board chair delivered a letter to Price where she admitted that the board did not have any justification for firing her.
Price is suing to get her job back without loss of seniority. She is also seeking compensation for damages and requests a trial by jury.
In response to Friday’s lawsuit, the Louisville Urban League released a statement, saying in part, “We are deeply saddened by her actions as they detract from both the League’s significant accomplishments and its important work on the community. The League vehemently denies the baseless allegations made by Dr. Price.”