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Free legal help organization under investigation

COLUMBIA -- An organization that provides free legal help to the poor for things like child support orders and landlord and tenet disputes has been accused of billing fraud and mismanagement.

The South Carolina Centers for Equal Justice has been put on month-to-month funding by the national nonprofit organization that provides about half of its $8.5 million budget.

But officials of the Greenville-based program, which was formed two years ago when three legal service agencies merged, say they should be able to keep all of their centers across the state open.

The Center in Orangeburg is located at 1557 Carolina Ave. NE.

After investigating the program, Legal Services Corporation issued a 64-page report and brought the state Centers for Equal Justice leaders to Washington to discuss the problems.

The (Columbia) State obtained the report, which found:

-- Management ordered employees to charge a Department of Social Services grant for hours they did not work. The Legal Services Corporation's Office of Inspector General will look into those allegations.

-- Money that was supposed to be used to hire private attorneys to handle cases in counties not directly served by the centers was instead put toward a $198,000 deficit that the program inherited when it formed.

-- Employees have complained upper management are hostile and combative. In the program's first 14 months, 30 employees, or a quarter of the staff, were fired or resigned. Staff members also have complained they have been told any negative comments about the centers would be considered insubordination and they could be fired.

South Carolina Centers for Equal Justice officials dispute many of the 23 allegations in the report.

For example, DSS agreed to allow the centers to charge its grant for hours that weren't worked, so long as the center's staff was available to do the work, said board chairman Robert Kilgo and vice chairman Stuart Andrews.

Regarding the private attorney program, there has been some confusion about how the money can be spent, Kilgo said.

The Centers for Equal Justice is facing some personnel issues. Executive director Teresa Cosby has been on leave since last month, and there is an effort to unionize non-management staff.

Cosby has refused to discuss the allegations but said her leave, which began last month, has nothing to do with the investigation.

"There are directions the board wants to go in, and directions I want to go in," she said. "I'm just taking this time to decide for myself what I want to do."