The former second administrator of the Bucks County Register of Deeds office alleges in a federal lawsuit that she was wrongfully fired earlier this year, two months after her new boss was chosen.
Carol Schaffling of Upper Southampton claims she lost her $81,600-a-year job as second deputy recorder of deeds just because she’s a registered Democrat and helped former Recorder of Deeds Robinson’s re-election campaign , also a Democrat.
Robinson lost his re-election bid to former Warminster Supervisor Daniel J. McPhillips last year, who later replaced Schaffling with a registered Republican, according to the wrongful termination lawsuit filed last week in the Court of United States District of Philadelphia.
The suit names as defendants the Bucks County Register of Deeds, Bucks County and McPhillips, who are being sued both individually and in their office-in-a-row capacity.
Bucks County declined to comment on the lawsuit, a spokesman said.
Neither McPhillips nor Montgomery County Attorney Ethan O’Shea, who represents Schaffling, immediately responded to emails seeking comment Monday.
Schaffling was hired to work in the office in February 2018, shortly after Robinson took over the office. During Robinson’s re-election campaign last year, Schaffling donated money and distributed literature to independent voters supporting Robinson, according to the suit.
After her predecessor resigned, Schaffling was promoted to second deputy recorder of deeds in September 2021, the lawsuit said.
On March 2, two months after McPhillips took the Recorder of Deeds job, he asked to meet with Schaffling and fired her on March 3, according to the suit. McPhillips allegedly told Schaffling that he was “going in a different direction” with his position.
After Schaffling was terminated, McPhillip hired Suzanne McCracken to take over as second deputy recorder of deeds, according to the suit.
Schaffling was let go, although the lawsuit alleges McPhillip praised her job performance to a former county attorney weeks before firing her.
The functions of the Second Deputy Register of Deeds include, among others, the supervision of the fiscal staff in the exercise of the fiscal responsibilities of the office; preparation of payrolls and execution of personnel actions and management of monthly and annual budgets.
Before being hired in the recorder’s office, Schaffling worked as an accounts payable clerk for a Middletown warehouse dealer. McCracken previously served as Bucks County Recorder and Senior Administrator from 2017 to 2019.
The lawsuit alleges that Schaffling was fired not only because of her affiliation with a political party, but because she engaged in “constitutionally protected activity, namely, showing support for Robinson’s re-election as registrar of ‘Bucks County Proceedings’.
“Affiliation with a party is not an adequate requirement for the effective performance of the duties of second deputy registrar of deeds,” according to the suit.
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