State investigator says Yachats deputy city recorder’s allegations of discrimination, retaliation should be dismissed

 

By KENNETH LIPP/YachatsNews

YACHATS — A longtime Yachats city employee failed to provide substantial evidence she was discriminated or retaliated against by supervisors at city hall, according to the findings of an investigator for Oregon’s employer watchdog.

In a memo determining the complaint from deputy city recorder Kimmie Jackson should be dismissed, senior civil rights investigator Tyler Stokes of the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries wrote that a large number of Jackson’s 32 allegations were outside the statute of limitations, and “many of the remainder are so vague/generalized that (the city) was unable to reasonably respond to them.”

Jackson, who is Yachats’ only Black employee, filed the complaint in March 2022 alleging she’d been “subjected to a campaign of discrimination” almost since her hiring in July 2011, and that campaign included demotion, harassment, racial slurs and unequal pay practices.

The complaint follows a January 2022 notice from Jackson’s attorney, Rebecca Cambreleng of Portland, notifying the city that Jackson intended to sue for unspecified damages. The city and Cambreleng were waiting for the state report to help determine whether to proceed with a lawsuit, drop the issue, or seek some kind of settlement. The city spent $8,589 to hire a firm to do its own investigation — not yet public — of Jackson’s complaint in case it had to fight the BOLI decision.

According to Jackson’s  complaint, the pattern of treatment left her too “paralyzed” and afraid to apply for the open city manager position and led her to take medical leave in December 2021 for job-related mental health reasons.

Stokes’ memo addresses 27 contested allegations. Some of Jackson’s allegations are neutral statements of fact, such as her hiring date or the names and terms of Yachats city managers.

Stokes found that the events in 14 allegations occurred too long ago to be pursued under Oregon law. These involved previous city managers and office staff between 2015 and 2019.

In a footnote, Stokes added, “the facts do not indicate the existence of continuing violations that would justify consideration of allegations 6-19 in spite of their untimeliness.”

In her complaint, Jackson says she raised the issues of discrimination and harassment with every city manager she has worked under, as well as with a former mayor and city councilors. Not only did they fail to address the problem, Jackson said, “they actively participated in the systemic racism that permeates all parts of life in Yachats.”

Stokes notes that the city responded by admitting Jackson has complained to city managers about a “variety of issues.” But other than complaints related to a separate set of allegations addressed later in the memo, Stokes found Jackson failed to provide evidence she complained to any city officials about harassment and discrimination or anything else.

Several of Jackson’s allegations involved a period during which Yachats contracted with the Oregon Cascades West Council of Governments to handle its accounts receivable, human resources and bookkeeping functions.

Jackson said that agency restricted her access to utility billing and other functions and prevented her from doing her job effectively. She also alleged someone from the Council of Governments told former city manager Shannon Beaucaire that Jackson should not be performing the duties she had performed for the previous seven years.

Yachats responded to Jackson’s allegations regarding her duties  by admitting it contracted with the agency to be the only one performing multiple functions and that access was restricted to certain systems for other employees as well. Stokes noted the city provided documentation of those contract terms.

The investigator also found Jackson failed to articulate an actual harm in the Council of Governments’ taking over certain functions and that the city contracting for those duties to be performed was a legitimate and non-discriminatory action for a small municipality.

Jackson also alleged that a Council of Governments contractor “went through my desk and made a comment that, ‘I see that voodoo doll. Don’t do voodoo on me,’ as she was walking out the door.” Jackson said she reported the comment to Beaucaire.

Stokes found that allegation to be vague in that it did not state when the unidentified contractor made the comment. The complaint’s phrasing suggests it occurred soon after the Council of Governments was contracted by the city, in which case it would be past the statute of limitations. But for the sake of argument, Stokes wrote, even if it were not too late to file a complaint, Jackson failed to provide “any, let alone substantial” evidence that she reported the comment to the former city manager.

In her complaint, Jackson alleges she’d asked Beaucaire to resume discussions of her advancement and reinstate her training. She said the former city manager reinstated one of two trainings, but that her workload increased with no increase in pay. Between city manager appointments, Jackson claimed, the work of the city’s chief administrator fell to her, and when she and her union asked to discuss extra pay for the additional work, they received no acknowledgement from the city.

Stokes found that the city’s response to the allegations regarding training and advancement were reasonable. The city said they were too vague to respond to. The investigator also notes that Jackson admitted during an interview that the trainings were taken away by a former city manager sometime in 2015, well outside the statute of limitations.

Jackson also said during the interview that the real issue was that Beaucaire would not allow her to attend an annual conference to earn some type of credits.

“How the purported decision of her supervisor that she could not attend a conference was a violation of her civil rights … or why she was entitled as an employee to attend said conference, the complainant never explains,” Stokes wrote.

Regarding Jackson’s request for more compensation, Stokes said the city provided documentation showing it gave her a 5 percent salary increase for duties performed “out of class.”

Jackson also alleged interim city manager Katherine Guenther was told not to worry about not having experience in that role because she could hand her work to Jackson.

The city argued that allegation was vague in that Jackson did not say who said that to Guenther. Stokes agreed, pointing out that Jackson does not claim this was said by an employee of Yachats, nor does she claim that Guenther followed or would have followed the directive. Stokes also said he failed to find a nexus between that alleged harm and Jackson’s race.

Stokes found no evidence representatives of the city of Yachats discouraged Jackson from applying for the open city manager position.

Regarding Jackson’s allegation that the pattern of racial discrimination, retaliation and harassment led her to take medical leave in December 2021, Stokes wrote that since she’d failed to provide substantial evidence of that conduct, he could not find she’d taken medical leave because of it.

Jackson, who is still employed by the city, declined to comment on the bureau’s determination. Yachats city manager Heide Lambert also declined to comment.

• Kenneth Lipp is YachatsNews’ full-time reporter and can be reached at KenLipp@YachatsNews.com