$800,000 Discrimination Lawsuit: Former Portland Electrician Sues City

A former Portland electrician just filed a massive federal lawsuit against the city, alleging she was fired and discriminated against for her sexual orientation by bosses who perceived her to be mentally impaired.

Heather Kowitz asking the city to pay $800,000 for violating the Americans with Disabilities Act, for discriminating against her because she's lesbian, and for retaliation after she filed two complaints with the state labor bureau.

The complaint says Kowitz was a "journeyman" electrician for the city, starting in Nov. 2013 through when she was fired in March 2015. Her attorney, Eric Fjelstad, when reached on the phone this afternoon, couldn't remember her exact job title or department within the city. Her former supervisor, mentioned in the complaint, is listed on the City of Portland website as the lead electrician for the Portland Bureau of Transportation.

During her year and a half on the job, she filed two complaints with the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries, it says. First in Sept. 2014, "alleging a hostile work environment, retaliation and different terms and conditions of employment based on her sexual orientation." That was dismissed a month later, and the complaint says someone at the city that day "demanded that Ms. Kowitz submit to a psychological examination as a condition of continued employment." She passed it, it says, and she was not allowed to return to work until Jan. 2015.

She filed another complaint that month against the city "alleging unlawful discrimination based on perceived disability and on Ms. Kowtiz's opposition to unlawful employment practices."

Kowitz is not actually mentally impaired, Fjelstad explained, but the city perceived to her to be.

The complaint says her boss at PBOT referred to her clothing as a "Canadian Tuxedo" (referencing a joke made in the movie Super Troopers about someone wearing a denim jacket and jeans), called her "worthless," and referred to her as "it." She was subjected to poor working conditions as retaliation, per the complaint.

The lawsuit is asking for $800,000, Fjelstad tells us. Read the suit here: