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Allegations of racial bias and hostility mount at the state agency responsible for investigating illegal employment practices.
The Portland Tribune first revealed that the Oregon Bureau of Labor & Industries hired an outside law firm to review its own workplace, and independent auditing developed after a second ex- employee filed a complaint claiming she was forced to leave.
Former Civil Rights Division investigator Shaina Pomerantz said she had experienced “a culture of disparate treatment and racial hostility” which included a higher workload than white employees and a six-month extension. months of his probation which was not applied to other new recruits.
“When black employees, including Ms. Pomerantz, spoke up, made suggestions or asked questions, non-black employees (Civil Rights Division) shut down these investigators and told them their questions were irrelevant. , false and / or incompatible with CRD’s practices. , depending on the dispute.
Pomerantz, who is vice chairman of the Portland Police Review Board, resigned from BOLI on Dec. 31 and is now seeking $ 750,000 in damages.
His lawsuit bolsters the account of his former boss, Carol Johnson, who quit a $ 10,300-a-month job as a division chief last July, citing intolerable terms in a separate lawsuit.
Pomerantz, 45, says civil rights investigators, who are mostly white, turned off their cameras in virtual meetings with Johnson, who is black, and remained silent when Johnson admitted the death of George Floyd.
The civil rights division “has often dismissed complaints of racial discrimination at a disproportionate rate,” the lawsuit says. “Where the CRD complaints provided enough information to suggest a racial discrimination complaint but did not explicitly allege racial discrimination, CRD investigators would recommend immediate termination.”
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BOLI’s elected chief, Commissioner Val Hoyle, appears to have corroborated some of the claims made by Johnson, according to excerpts from his emails included in the first trial. But a representative from the office more forcefully rebuffed Pomerantz’s claims, saying BOLI extended employee probation periods during the unusual circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“There were reasons to extend it, to try to give her the chance to be able to perform in her work, but we can undeniably say that she was not fulfilling her duties,” said spokesperson Anne Marie Lévis. “BOLI believes this is not a credible complaint, but we are awaiting the outcome of the investigation.”
“Commissioner Hoyle takes this very seriously,” added the spokesperson.
Prior to taking the post of state, Pomerantz was offered a $ 27,000 settlement after filing a workplace complaint against his former employer, Concordia University, but rejected the money as it depended on of signing a non-denigration agreement, according to his lawyer. BOLI dismissed the complaint in 2019 and the school declared bankruptcy the following year.
“BOLI has dismissed many cases that have resulted in a jury verdict,” said lawyer J. Ashlee Albies, citing the false arrest of Michael Fesser as examples, as well as the million dollars awarded to two schools Portland Public. maintenance workers who have experienced racial harassment on the job.
Former chief of staff to ousted state representative Diego Hernandez, Pomerantz raised concerns during a sexual harassment investigation that lawmakers promoted a staff member because of their romantic relationship, but this complaint was not founded after the two sides denied being intimate.
Albies said his client disagreed with the finding and a co-chair later apologized after testifying before the state committee investigating Hernandez.
“The fact that she filed protected discrimination complaints,” Albies said, “I think that shows that she is someone defending herself.”
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