A lawsuit filed by Springfield attorney Claud Ingram on behalf of plaintiffs Patricia Gouveia and Peggy Roberson accuses ORCCA’s board of violating executed whistleblower agreements and aiding and abetting two co-defendants to sabotage their jobs. Defendants include the community action agency’s board of directors severally and individually along with CEO Mike Lehman and HR Manager Carol Douglas. According to the complaint Cecilia Lyon, Christina Alexander, Brenda Brecke, Carl Siminow, Marcia Hart and Rose Buford condoned serial violations of Oregon employment laws by Lehman and Douglas who targeted the plaintiffs because Lehman “has no use for whistleblowers.”
One revelation in the complaint is that the board forced former CEO Mary Schoen-Clark to resign or face termination for cause. Schoen-Clark had been the subject of a series of vicious articles in The World newspaper last year primarily criticizing her management style and for billing errors personality conflicts between SCFS (South Coast Food Share) and area food pantries. Schoen-Clark had helped the agency which oversees SCFS, Head Start and many other vital area programs serving low income families, grow from $4 to $10 million a year. During MGx’s coverage at that time it became evident that the personal attacks contained in the paper’s articles began to take a toll on Schoen-Clark, causing her to become secretive, withdrawn, suspicious and ultimately to withhold information from the board related to financing a new campus. The negative publicity also had an adverse impact on donations which may have motivated Schoen-Clark to become more creative in order to keep the agency afloat during the expansion and construction phase.
Roberson and Gouveia evidently became alarmed when it appeared Schoen-Clark might be co-mingling program and foundation grants as well as private donations to cover operational and administrative shortfalls. The suit alleges the pair requested and were given whistleblower protection which insured confidentiality and protection from retaliation. However, the board violated their confidence when it informed Lehman who took the reins in February, six months after Schoen-Clark’s resignation, that the plaintiffs had provided information which prompted an investigation into Schoen-Clark’s use of funds. Schoen-Clark resigned a year ago September and Gouveia served as interim CEO until this February.
Prior to Lehman’s arrival Roberson held the position of executive assistant and in this capacity acted as a liaison to the board. In a meeting Lehman advised her he was aware she had been a whistleblower and he had no use for whistleblowers and they would soon discuss her role as his assistant. As emphasis, Lehman informed her in a different meeting that any information for the board must first pass through him and she was not to speak again directly to the board.
Douglas is accused of sabotaging interim CEO Gouveia’s application for the permanent position and impairing her efforts to address the problems left behind by Schoen-Clark. Douglas who was a member of the executive director hiring committee acknowledges that she and Lehman have been friends since high school and according to the complaint lost part of Gouveia’s application and failed to advise her of other requirements for applying for the permanent position.
While the suit doesn’t expressly claim the board is dysfunctional it is obvious the members have not taken their oversight duties seriously or the plaintiffs would not have had to step forward to get the board to investigate Schoen-Clark. Coupled with the board’s catatonic response during The World’s vicious assault on Schoen-Clark, this no doubt contributed to her sense of isolation, and its refusal to take complaints by the plaintiffs seriously it is safe to characterize this board as dysfunctional. Lehman, previously a human resources director for Coos County, was hired for the position despite having no experience running a multi-program non-profit to “be the face of ORCCA.” Lehman has also been overheard bragging that his close relationship with The World editor, Clark Walworth, will assure the agency never has any further bad publicity. (Walworth has since been replaced). So basically, even though Lehman has no experience and doesn’t write grants he was hired because the board was convinced ORCCA would receive only good press, a decision that cost the agency three accomplished grant writers.
By some accounts, Lehman has taken being the face of ORCCA literally and is effectively allowing Douglas to run the day to day operations while Lehman poses as front man with the board. Despite their combined experience in human resources the agency may soon be facing yet another lawsuit stemming from alleged violations of Oregon’s employment laws. Will update as information becomes available.
The plaintiffs seek additional damages for intentional infliction of emotional distress. The discovery portion of the suit will be enlightening and it will be interesting to find out if Lehman is engaging in the the very same acts for which Schoen-Clark was terminated. If so, Schoen-Clark may also have grounds for suing her former employer.
Read the complaint ORCCA_Complaint
It will be interesting to see if Lehman can keep his alleged promise to the board and keep any more bad press from appearing in theworld. One day and counting until that promise cracks wide open and theworld is forced to report this story to its dwindling readers. When it appears in that paper it will obviously be the spin from the other side. What will still be missing from this story is why Lehman and the gang from SCDC wanted him there to run that particular non-profit… That’s going to be a twist that many of us would like to see exposed and that trail will lead to people above Lehman’s pay-grade. That’s another reason why it will most likely be settled out of court, That part of this story is not going to be good press for SCDC which is why this lawsuit will never get that far. They don’t want the uninformed locals to know who is really pulling all the strings in this community.
They may have been in competition for some of the same grant funds but I think, if there is a grand plan to control community action, it may stem from the fact that ORCCA was 100% more successful than SCDC at creating new jobs.
I predict this suit will be as successful as standing on the North Jetty & urinating into the wind. Would not be surprised to see a request for summary judgement granted.
I can see Mike working up the spin now. He will probably start with they are just disgruntled employees. Then it will staff’s fault and then the board. It will never, ever be Mike’s fault
Whatever happened to ol’ Clarkie? The paper is not the same without him. Thank you Allah. At least one lawyer will bless the ability to subpoena. I suspect that the plaintiffs have friends, silent today, but vocal when subpoenaed. They may even find a few county employee friends willing to discuss management style.
If they get wind of this there are probably a couple of former county employees who will be eager to come forward.