courthouse.JPG

A view of the Multnomah County Courthouse in 2014 from the center of Chapman Square in downtown Portland.

(Tony Hernandez/Staff)

A woman who worked as Multnomah County's wellness manager is suing her former employer on allegations she was fired after she raised questions about fiscal mismanagement.

Tanya Barham's lawsuit seeks $600,000 on claims of gender discrimination and whistleblower retaliation, among others, arguing Barham suffered anxiety, pain and distress over losing her job.

According to the suit, Barham and her boss first disagreed over her schedule, then her "communication style." Performance assessments focused on her appearance, the lawsuit says, including the length of her shorts.

Finally, the suit alleges, she was fired after repeatedly voicing concerns about wasteful spending and accounting practices in the county's assets and finance departments.

The suit does not spell out those concerns. But it says a county department director told Barham "not to put complaints like that in writing so that they would not be discovered by the public."

County spokesman David Austin declined to comment, citing county policy on pending litigation.

Barham's lawsuit says when she was hired in March 2013, she told her manager she would accept a part-time position. Conflict began almost immediately, according to the lawsuit, because Barham and her boss, Travis Graves, couldn't agree on her hours.

Barham, a single mom, wanted to forgo an hour lunch break to work within an eight-hour window, instead of nine hours, because of her childcare needs. Her lawsuit says Graves then required her to work four additional hours from home.

Within a short time, Barham's wellness programs were doing well, and she was increasing employee participation, according to the suit. But, the lawsuit alleges, Graves focused his assessments on her appearance, saying her shorts were too short and she talked and typed too loudly.

A few months after coming to work for the county, the lawsuit says, Barham emailed managers "outlining what she saw as an inefficient and wasteful use of county and taxpayer resources."

The lawsuit says Barham reported her concerns to the human resources department. To her knowledge, it says, the "mismanagement and waste of funds" was never addressed.

In November 2013, Barham again asked her boss for an amended "telework schedule" because of her childcare issues. Graves denied the request, according to the suit, saying Barham's job required her to be in the office.

Her lawsuit alleges that other employees who were not single mothers had the schedule flexibility she was denied.

After this, Barham was denied career development opportunities, such as mentoring and access to professional conferences, the lawsuit says.

By the fall of 2014, the lawsuit says, Graves had taken some of Barham's job duties "effectively demoting her."

Barham began to experience anxiety and loss of sleep because of what she was experiencing at work, according to her complaint. In September she was prescribed medication for her work-related stress.

Also in September, Barham again pursued her complaint about "a bloated county department, spending unnecessary millions."

Barham later emailed several employees and department managers "reporting what she believed to be wasteful and duplicative accounting practices," the complaint says.

Days afterward, the county's benefits manager, Karen Daly, met with Barham, saying someone had complained that Barham's communication style was "too intense." The suit says Daly had previously repeated Graves' gender-based criticism of Barham's "communication style, which was labeled 'too aggressive' for a woman."

"After this investigation," the suit alleges, "the county accused plaintiff of being too emotional and intense, and alleged that her tone and volume in communicating were not acceptable. Daly told plaintiff that she was too aggressive and she should resign."

Her lawsuit alleges that county managers solicited complaints about Barham from her coworkers because "she had openly questioned the waste of resources... and was jeopardizing a culture of institutional waste and resource mismanagement."

On Nov. 19, 2014, Graves and Daly asked Barham to resign and sign a severance document that would prevent her from bringing a legal claim against the county. The county told Barham she had not violated any workplace policies, according to the suit, but said her interactions were too aggressive. Barham didn't sign the document, which listed her last day as Jan. 15, 2015.

Barham complained to human resources she felt targeted and subjected to gender-based criticism, according to the lawsuit.

A few days later, Graves asked Barham if she was going to sign the severance papers. She told him she needed a lawyer to review the document. Graves gave her until Dec. 12, 2014, and later extended to Dec. 19.

On Dec. 12, Barham thought she was having a heart attack and went to urgent care. She was diagnosed with a panic attack, according to the suit, linked to her work conditions. On Dec. 19, she told Graves she wouldn't resign, the complaint said. That day, she was fired.

"As this case moves forward," Barham's lawyer Christina Stephenson wrote in an email to The Oregonian/OregonLive, "we look forward to the transparency and accountability that only the courts can provide."

-- Emily E. Smith

esmith@oregonian.com

503-294-4032; @emilyesmith