Probate Judge Randy Jinks has mostly denied the allegations by employees. The case spotlights how Alabama handles ethics complaints against judges.
Since he was sworn into office in January 2019, Probate Judge Randy Jinks of Alabama has had a central role in the most significant moments of people’s lives in Talladega County, about 50 miles east of Birmingham. Jinks, the county’s chief election official, has overseen adoptions and guardianships, mental health commitments and the issuing of marriage licenses.
Behind the scenes, employees accuse Jinks, 65, of cultivating a toxic and hostile workplace that undermined the integrity of his office.
More than 100 allegations were outlined in a scathing 78-page complaint issued in March by the Judicial Inquiry Commission, the state body that reviews complaints against judges, detailing racist and sexist conversations that employees claim Jinks initiated, including talking about pornography and a video of a woman doing a striptease. Some allege that he made disparaging remarks about George Floyd, the Black Lives Matter movement, Black people who came into the office and the office’s sole Black employee. Continue reading.