Several days after Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport's three public relations employees were fired, the official reason given was that their services are "no longer needed."
Personnel documents on the terminations of John Kennedy, Al B. Snedeker and Katena Carvajales dated Sept. 5 note their dismissals take effect Sept. 29.
The employees were given overall ratings of "highly effective" on their performance evaluations earlier this year.
But tensions between the airport and City Hall have been on the rise since May when the airport opened its new international terminal and came under the spotlight. The mayor's office and others were eager to celebrate the opening of the "magnificent facility," as Mayor Kasim Reed called the new terminal in a press release.
Sonji Jacobs, spokeswoman for the mayor, said she will handle media inquiries for the airport "for the time being."
Issues related to media coverage of the international terminal led to one-day suspensions of Kennedy and Snedeker on May 30.
Snedeker was told in a memo that he failed to notify his supervisor of every media contact leading to an article in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on long lines for shuttles and other troubles at the new terminal.
Kennedy was told in a memo he violated "an official directive" by failing to notify his supervisor until three days later of an inquiry from an AJC reporter about an upcoming PolitiFact report. That report gave a "Pants on Fire" rating to a statement that the international terminal was "within budget."
Kennedy called the suspension erroneous.
Copyright 2012 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
