Category: General

Strangely this is the only mention in the press (so far) of the six-figure award made in the case I’ve been posting about. It’s the second item from the bottom, to wit:

* Two weeks ago, County Chairwoman Diane Linn warned county employees that workplace discrimination would “not be tolerated.” Whaddya know?! Last Friday a federal jury said it wouldn’t tolerate it either, fining the county $650,000 for retaliating against a whistleblower at the Department of Community Justice. Computer trainer Lea Lakeside-Scott alerted her supervisor about favoritism and discrimination, and followed up with a complaint to the state Bureau of Labor and Industries–after which the county fired her. Lakeside-Scott sued in 2002. The verdict is not quite final, but some county employees are viewing it as a referendum on Linn, who in 2003 promoted Jann Brown, the manager who was allegedly the prime retaliator.

Quick note since one of the 3 or 4 readers of this blog have been nagging me to update (longer post later):

Testified in court today. Stressful, I forgot to bring up some stuff that may have been important (but I found out later that another witness testified to that fact, so at least it got out there), and I hope the plaintiff wins big. She deserves it.

Going for a run. No speedwork, just a 2 or 3 mile run to burn off some stress.

Attention!

My apologies — my site and my email has been unavailable for the past 24 hours. As you can see, it is working now (thanks to Caleb!) but if you sent me some email that was really important in the last day, you might want to send it again.

Although, most of the email I get is just friends saying “hi” (hi, back!) or spam. In fact, I got 10 pieces of spam in the past 24 hours. But, hey, whatever.

Let’s assume you’re being asked to do something that you have no legal obligation to do. Let’s assume that you’re being asked to do this thing by your employer, that your employer is a defendant in a lawsuit. Let’s assume that the thing you’re being asked to do is to talk to the defendant’s lawyer about the case, just you and the attorney, even though you’re a witness for the plaintiff.

Let’s assume that you respectfully decline to meet with the defendant’s lawyer (in other words, your employer’s lawyer). Further, you decline several times, but they press hard and get your boss’s boss to ask you, which turns it into an issue of insubordination.

Assuming all that… isn’t that intimidating? Isn’t that the word you would use, privately, amongst friends, to describe the position your employer is taking?

Three years ago, a coworker of mine was investigated by my employer, and eventually terminated. However, prior to being investigated, she had filed a complaint with the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industry (BOLI), alleging harassment and discrimination from management. After being terminated, my coworker and her lawyer added retaliation to the charges.

Since I was the employee’s shop steward at the time I had a passing familiarity with the case. In fact, at the time, my boss called me into his office and strongly cautioned me about how I involved myself with it. I found out later that that could have been considered illegal threatening of a steward, a huge no-no for management. Since I was a fledgeling steward, I didn’t pursue it at the time.

Recently, I found out, from the legal department at my place of employment, that I was being called as a witness in the case, which is only now ready to come to trial. The wheels of justice, yadda yadda. Since I was aware that I was being called by the plaintiff, and my employer was the defendant in the trial, I knew that I really didn’t have any obligation to talk to the lawyers for the defendant. I checked with my union rep and, sure enough, he agreed that I didn’t have to speak to them. If they insisted, I should speak to them, but then we would look into grieving it.

After getting the letter from the lawyer, several days went by. Then I received an email (addressed to me and several others) requesting a meeting. I ignored the email and remained busy with work. Last Thursday I received a follow-up email, asking for a meeting once again. I replied that I respectfully declined.

That led to a series of emails back and forth, each more strongly worded than the other. I pointed out that, if I was being ordered to meet with the lawyer, I would, but failing that, I declined.

The carefully-worded emails from the legal department, however sugar-coated, could be interpreted as intimidation and threats. Y’know, in a certain context. However, they picked the exact wrong week to try to intimidate me. Tyrants need to be challenged; bullies need to be stood up to. I hope that those who wronged my coworker (and, indirectly, myself and my other employees), and have abused both their managerial power and the trust of their workers and the taxpayers and citizens of Multnomah County, will finally have to face the consequences of their actions.

Ran tonight. It’s still Speed Week! (or …Weeks! since this is the second one) so I’m still doing track intervals and stuff like that.

Today was track intervals — 1.4 miles to warm up (and get to the track), then alternate single laps (400 meters) at better than an 8:00 pace with walking fast/jogging for 2-3 minutes, then run home. Here’s my times for each stage:

• Warm up run — ~15
• Lap 1 — 1:49
• Lap 2 — 1:53
• Lap 3 — 1:42
• Lap 4 — 1:52
• Cool down run — ~17:30

My best lap was around a 6:50 pace; my worst lap was around a 7:34 pace. My warmup time = 12:30. My cool-down time = 10:42. Yay, me! Total mileage (including my fast walking laps) is 4.8 miles.

Wow.

The Boston Red Sox won.

They went to The Show, and won it all. With a sweep, no less, of the Cardinals.

Wow.

I have mixed feelings about it. I mean, great, it’s cool, the Curse is lifted, over with. I got some email buddies in Boston that I don’t expect to hear from for at least a couple of days (you guys have voted already, right? Right? You’ve got to vote, you know, I don’t care how hung over you are). Peace out, dogs, and all that.

…on the other hand… Don’t get me wrong. I’m a traditionalist. If for no other reason than that, that’s why I love baseball in the first place (note to Caleb: yes, I can be a traditionalist and still respect baseball for changing the type of baseball; they make changes every 20-30 years or so, just to mix it up a little. Baseball’s more than a century old, you know). But, butbutbut… the Curse is part of that tradition. It just doesn’t feel right to have it end.

I mean, what’s next? The Cubs?

On the other other hand, lunar eclipses (like the one last night) are supposed to herald great change. And this was a pretty great one.

I guess I was just hoping for the eclipse to mean a change for someone else. It can still mean that, right? Right?

Smacky was a huge PITA last night. I was trying to drink a beer and eat some chips and salsa and watch the game and he kept trying to knock over my beer or get in the bag of chips or step in my salsa or walk on my laptop (it’s never far away from me)… Finally I broke out the water bottle, and he finally got the message and laid down on my lap.

…soaking wet from the bottle. But it was better than the alternative.

Is this weird?

My cat smells really good. Kinda smoky and spicy.

Since I bathe him in lemon-flavored dishwashing soap, I’d expect a lemon-y scent. But, no. Of course, he’s overdue for a bath and scratching constantly from the fleas, poor thing.