CONYERS — A lawyer representing former Rockdale County public affairs deputy director Holly Lafontaine confirmed Wednesday he has filed a complaint with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission concerning her release as part of a county work force reduction.

Josh Capilouto, of the Atlanta law firm Parks, Chesin and Walbert, said he did not want to comment on the substance of the charge, only that one was pending.

“They are doing their investigation, and we’ve turned over a couple of documents to them,” he said. “I’m still hoping we can resolve this without filing a lawsuit.”

Capilouto added that he has yet to discuss the matter with an attorney representing Rockdale County.

“Like I said, we’re going to try to resolve this internally, but I want to talk to them first to see if we can get this resolved,” he said.

Lafontaine was among the first county employees released from their jobs earlier this month as the county administrators grappled with a budget revenue gap. The work force reduction eventually affected 38 positions across county government that included 16 positions that were “defunded.” Savings were also recouped from eliminating unfilled positions.

The county also released Angela Robinson, a media relations specialist, in the public affairs department as part of the job cuts.

Lafontaine had 15 years of service with the county when she was released, including being interim director of public affairs and media relations from July 2009 through April when Erica Fatima was hired as the county’s new public affairs director.

Lafontaine was a finalist for the public affairs director opening in March along with Fatima and Lisa King, a public relations manager for an Atlanta information security firm and former press officer for former Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin.

At the time of her appointment by the county, Fatima had worked as deputy press secretary for the Georgia Department of Transportation since 2008. She also held several positions with the Rockdale County Public Schools that included secretary-level positions for human relations and public relations departments in the schools’ central offices and as a data entry clerk at Salem High School before moving to GDOT.

The Rockdale County Board of Commissioners blocked Fatima’s appointment during an April 13 meeting when Commissioners JaNice Van Ness and Oz Nesbitt voted against Commission Chairman Richard Oden’s motion to hire her. They questioned the hiring process and sought input.

Oden denied he directed the county’s Human Resources Department to hire one candidate over the other and had HR Director Jeff Pogue explain the process used in hiring Fatima. Pogue said 115 applicants responded to the job posting and a four-member panel was used to cull the applicants to nine candidates and then to four candidates with one finalist withdrawing.

The Board of Commissioners approved Fatima’s appointment at a meeting two weeks later. The vote was 2-1 during the April 27 BOC meeting with Van Ness voicing her opposition to the hire.