BATON ROUGE — A former BREC employee is appealing her termination and accusing leadership of violating ethics laws and BREC policy.

A public hearing at BREC headquarters on Thursday put the agency’s internal process under 

Inside a packed BREC meeting room, former employee Tonya Gordon Smith defended her decision to refuse what she calls improper payment orders to the BREC Commission. This decision ultimately cost her job.

“I am appealing my insubordinate termination for refusing to, what they say was to pay invoices from new money for invoices that were on an old contract,” Smith said.

Smith, who worked with BREC for 17 years, said she refused to process payments because she believed they violated department policies.

“At the end of the day, it's things that are against BREC policy and kind of borderline on Louisiana purchasing laws,” she said.

Her testimony centered on a dispute over department spending and what she describes as supervisors' pressure to move money from the 2025 budget to pay for 2024 contracts.

BREC argued the Board of Commissioners had allocated money to cover those outstanding invoices, but Smith still refused.

“I was uncomfortable with using current funds to pay old invoices,” Smith said. “They're saying that because I refused these direct orders, that I was being insubordinate, and that was the reason for my termination.”

Smith says she tried to raise red flags internally but believes those concerns were ignored. She was terminated on September 11th and soon after filed an appeal, alleging the process itself was compromised.

She has since filed an ethics complaint, accusing BREC Interim Superintendent Janet Simmons of abusing her authority by being involved in the appeal despite having made the original termination decision.

“Unfortunately, I stood on what was right. I got terminated,” Smith said. “But hopefully this opens the door for BREC to open up another avenue for other employees.”

Dozens of community members, current employees, and retirees filled the hearing room as Smith presented emails, invoices, and internal documents to support her case.

“At the end of the day, I just want my job back,” she said. “You know, I love my job. I love the people, I love BREC. And so I just want my job back.”

The hearing will continue on Friday morning. Interim Superintendent Janet Simmons is expected to speak at 8 a.m.