DA’s office staffer reinstated after alleged firing over property tax post, source says

NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) -An Orleans Parish District Attorney’s Office employee has her job back after she said she was fired for alerting the public about property taxes, according to a source familiar with the situation.

Holly Friedman, the DA’s office director of litigation support, who is also a former City Hall employee who worked for then-Councilman Joe Giarrusso, confirmed her reinstatement Monday night.

“I’ve always been proud of my work at the District Attorney’s Office, and I never believed my dismissal was warranted,” she said in a statement. “Reinstatement feels like vindication and is an important step in restoring my professional reputation.”

Friedman said she went back to work last week on Nov. 4. She had previously told Fox 8 that human resources fired her Sept. 17 after she posted on Facebook about a possible property tax increase in Orleans Parish.

That increase came last week when council members voted to roll millages forward.

Friedman said she first heard of the news on the second-to-last slide of a presentation at a city meeting and that her post served to notify the public.

At the time, Giarrusso who now serves as the city’s Chief Administrative Officer, said the possibility of a millage roll forward had been out in the ether for a while.

The Orleans Parish District Attorney’s Office didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Monday night. It has previously said it wouldn’t comment on personnel matters.

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