The Oregonian | By Austin De Dios | November 12, 2024
A Multnomah County interim division director and former deputy chief of staff to Chair Jessica Vega Pederson is suing the county, alleging that she was retaliated against after she raised concerns about public records violations within the chair’s office.
Tabitha Jensen, who currently runs the county’s Youth and Family Services Division, first brought her concerns to county officials in May 2024, after she was allegedly asked to use Vega Pederson’s personal email address to communicate with the county chair, according to the lawsuit and a statement from her attorney, Michael Fuller. The lawsuit alleges that the county then concealed information on personal email accounts and phone numbers when responding to public records requests.
Fuller told The Oregonian/OregonLive Tuesday that the county official who requested that Jensen use the chair‘s personal email address was Chris Fick, Vega Pederson’s former chief of staff. Vega Pederson later asked Fick to resign in April amid allegations of workplace discrimination unrelated to Jensen’s lawsuit.
“Tabitha raised concerns after she was asked to communicate using the county chair’s personal email, then noticed that the county was not timely producing communications involving the county chair’s personal email account,” Fuller wrote. “The communications were ultimately produced but only after Tabitha raised her concerns with the county attorney.”
County spokesperson Julie Sullivan-Springhetti said that the county does not comment on ongoing litigation, but that “Multnomah County is committed to meeting the letter and intent of Oregon’s public records law.”
Jensen was transferred out of the chair’s office in July to run the youth services division. County officials said at the time that the move was temporary and that Jensen could return to the chair’s office.
Jensen applied to become the permanent youth services division director in August after being asked to submit an application for the job by Department of County Human Services Director Mohammad Bader, records obtained by The Oregonian/OregonLive show. County officials ended up offering the job to current Commissioner Lori Stegmann in October. The lawsuit alleges this was retaliation “in substantial part because of (Jensen’s) prior reporting.”
Days later, Jensen was told she would not be invited back to the chair’s office, according to the lawsuit and emails obtained by The Oregonian/OregonLive.
Jensen is part of a wave of employees who have left the chair‘s office in the last year and a half. She raised concerns about employee behavior, team communication and overall performance of the chair’s inner-circle in memos written last December, including one sent to Vega Pederson’s gmail account, records obtained by The Oregonian/OregonLive show. The newspaper described the records in a September article.
Jensen is seeking up to $425,000 in non-economic damages. Fuller said he expects to present the case to a jury late next year.
