First and only Black senior park manager in division history fired after opposing discriminatory hiring

Prince George's County, Maryland — Steven Muse spent three and a half years as a model employee. As Senior Park Manager III for the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, he oversaw 33 parks, supervised 27 employees, and managed the largest land mass in Montgomery Parks. Every performance evaluation rated him as meeting or exceeding expectations. He had never received a single disciplinary action.

He was also the first and only African American to hold that position in the Northern Division's history.

On February 4, 2026, Justly Prudent filed a federal civil rights lawsuit on behalf of Mr. Muse, charging that M-NCPPC retaliated against him for opposing race and sex discrimination in the agency's hiring practices, and ultimately manufactured a pretext to terminate his employment.

The trouble began in September 2023, when Mr. Muse attended a management meeting and spoke up about what he had witnessed on hiring panels. Qualified candidates who lived south of the Intercounty Connector—an area with a predominantly Black and Hispanic population—were being systematically rejected. Panel members cited concerns about "commute times" or dismissed positions as "stepping stones." Meanwhile, less qualified white male candidates from Frederick County, Pennsylvania, and even West Virginia were routinely selected, despite living much farther away.

"We have to stop discriminating against people because of where they live," Mr. Muse told his colleagues.

Within weeks, the retaliation began.

First, Mr. Muse was inexplicably disqualified from a promotion to Regional Operations Manager, a position he had earned the right to interview for after clearing every prior hurdle in the selection process. Then came the systematic exclusion: management meetings he had always attended were suddenly held without him. Training opportunities went to his non-Black peers but not to him. His supervisors began conducting unauthorized meetings with his subordinate employees, undermining his authority in ways that no other manager experienced.

Mr. Muse documented everything. He filed written complaints in August and September 2024 with his supervisors and with M-NCPPC's human resources department. The agency took no action.

Then, in October 2024, M-NCPPC placed Mr. Muse on administrative leave and launched an investigation unlike any in the agency's history: a retroactive analysis of GPS data from his work vehicle, targeting 131 alleged "unauthorized stops" at his residence over a 13-month period. The investigation was triggered by allegations from a white subordinate employee who later bragged to coworkers that he had "made it his mission to get rid of Muse."

The complaint details how the investigation was procedurally flawed from the start. M-NCPPC denied Mr. Muse access to the underlying GPS data and calibration records. The agency treated his authorized 45-minute meal breaks—taken at his home, located just 0.6 miles from one of the parks he managed—as policy violations. It counted approved remote work days as unauthorized absences.

When Mr. Muse was finally permitted to review just six of the 131 alleged violations, the agency's claimed damages dropped from $5,458 to $3,000, a reduction of nearly fifty percent that exposed fundamental flaws in the investigation.

None of it mattered. On February 21, 2025, M-NCPPC terminated Mr. Muse's employment and demanded he reimburse the agency $3,000.

According to the lawsuit, no other manager in M-NCPPC history—Black or otherwise—has ever been subjected to a retroactive GPS investigation covering more than a year of vehicle data. No other manager has ever been terminated based on GPS tracking without first receiving progressive discipline, warnings, or an opportunity to correct the alleged conduct.

The complaint also describes how M-NCPPC treated other managers accused of far more serious misconduct. In early 2025, just weeks after firing Mr. Muse, the agency investigated three managers—one Hispanic and two white—for allegedly selling agency property and keeping the proceeds. Rather than terminate them, M-NCPPC allowed all three to retire with full benefits and in good standing. The agency did not require them to reimburse any misappropriated funds.

Mr. Muse, by contrast, was fired and ordered to pay back $3,000 for taking lunch at his house.

The lawsuit brings claims under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Maryland Fair Employment Practices Act, and Prince George's County and Montgomery County anti-discrimination laws. Mr. Muse seeks reinstatement, back pay, compensatory damages, and an order requiring M-NCPPC to expunge all references to the GPS investigation and termination from his personnel file.

"Mr. Muse did exactly what the law encourages employees to do, he spoke up when he witnessed discrimination against job candidates based on their race and where they lived," said Jordan D. Howlette, Managing Attorney at Justly Prudent. "The agency's response was to systematically dismantle his career and manufacture a pretext to fire him. This lawsuit seeks to hold M-NCPPC accountable for that retaliation."

The case is Steven Muse v. The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission (Case No. 8:26-cv-460), filed in the United States District Court for the District of Maryland.