Woodland employee files complaint against city

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A city of Woodland employee has filed a safety and health discrimination complaint with the Department of Labor and Industries.

Derrek Amburgey filed the complaint on March 11 with Department of Labor Industries Division of Occupational Safety and Health.

“I suffered discrimination for reporting violations of workplace health and safety at Woodland Washington’s wastewater treatment facility,’’ Amburgey wrote in his complaint, obtained by The Reflector. “I was instructed to work in and around open hatches atop 30-feet-deep sewer sludge digesters by myself on on weekends without any safety protocols in place.

“When I raised concerns to my supervisor, Mark Morgan, I was written up and my work hours were cut,’’ Amburgey wrote.

Amburgey said he was hired Oct. 25, 2012 to work in the city of Woodland’s Public Works Department as a wastewater operator. In addition to the cut in work hours, Amburgey claimed in his grievance that his wage was reduced from $25.13 to $21.56.

“Upon learning of other serious violations I lodged a whistleblower complaint with the DOE and EPA in early July and helped investigators document serious health and environmental hazards and fraudulent records keeping,’’ Amburgey wrote.

In October, three months after Amburgey claimed he complained to the Department of Ecology (DOE) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), irregularities were found during an inspection of the plant by DOE officials.

In February, Woodland Mayor Grover Laseke announced that Veolia Services had been selected to conduct an audit of the Waste Water Treatment Plant. Laseke indicated that the audit was expected to take about four months. He also said he was ‘’very concerned about these irregularities. Our plant has received DOE Outstanding Performance awards for nine of the last 13 years. I believe the operation of the plant has always been top notch and these problems are an isolated incident.”

Laseke also said a “thorough internal investigation has been initiated and is underway” and that Veolia Services will conduct an independent audit of the plant to determine any areas that need improvement. The mayor said once the report is completed, it will be reviewed by DOE and Public Works Director Bart Stepp.

The City Council Public Works Committee will be asked to assist with this review. Members of this committee include council members Scott Perry, Al Swindell and Marshall Allen.

Employee meets with mayor

Amburgey said he met with Laseke last July to express his concerns with other matters taking place at the treatment plant.

“I reported among other things that Mr. Morgan was using the lab as his personal butcher shop, cutting raw meat on the counter and storing the cuts in the lab fridge alongside chemicals and test samples,’’ Amburgey wrote in his complaint, “and routinely brought a handgun and alcohol to work.

“I provided the mayor with photographic evidence but the retaliation only got worse,’’ wrote Amburgey. “My yearly performance evaluations went from ‘outstanding’ in most categories to ‘unsatisfactory.’’’

Amburgey said he received a written discipline on Feb. 13, 2015 and was accused of “lying and purposeful misrepresentation.

“This action was taken as a means to chill my ability to complain about risks to workplace safety and health,’’ Amburgey wrote.

Laseke confirmed that Amburgey had been disciplined

“He’s been demoted to a position on the Public Works crew,’’ Laseke told The Reflector. “It takes a pretty serious incident for somebody to be demoted. I’m not talking about anything specific, but it’s safe to say that it’s for several incidents over a several months period of time.



“It seems like in public service when we try to discipline employees we have a tremendous uphill battle to do that,’’ Laseke said. “Whenever we discipline somebody there’s always a complaint or issue that goes with that. My thought is that whenever an employee’s work performance drops, we need to take action. We can’t just sit around and say ‘oh well.’’’

Laseke added that he believes the city has “done the best we can with the situation. On the other hand, if we have made a mistake, we will fix it.’’

Laseke wouldn’t discuss Amburgey’s situation in any more detail. He did address the typical course of discipline the city takes when dealing with an employee’s performance.

“With progressive discipline, you start out with counseling and go to written warnings and written reprimands and work your way up the line to suspensions and things of that nature,’’ Laseke said.

Amburgey said in his complaint that he received two “outstanding’’ reviews in 2013 and then on Nov. 25, 2014 – after making his safety and health complaints – he received an “unsatisfactory’’ review.

Council member concerned

Council member Benjamin Fredricks said the Amburgey complaint is further evidence of a hostile workplace in the city of Woodland.

“You had the alleged issues within our police department and now these issues going on in the Public Works department as well as (email) documentation I received from a city clerk’s office employee outlining what appeared to be a hostile work environment,’’ Fredricks said.

In June 2014, Woodland Police Detective Dave Plaza filed a tort claim against the city listing at least 15 different claims against Laseke and then-Interim Police Chief Brad Gillaspie.

“The city has done an extensive investigation into those claims and we believe we’ve answered every question that came up and there is nothing further to do on his (Plaza) original complaint,’’ Laseke said.

Gillaspie and Plaza are both still employed with the Woodland Police Department and Laseke confirmed that due to regular management rotation, Gillaspie is currently serving in a supervisory role over Plaza.

“I spoke to Chief (Phillip) Crochet extensively about this and he felt he could manage the situation,’’ Laseke said. “Professional people don’t have to love each other, they just have to work together. We believe we can hold to that standard.’’

Fredricks isn’t convinced.

“An independent climate assessment needs to take place in the city of Woodland,’’ Fredricks said. “There seems to be a culture of fear when it comes to employees who have issues within their work environment or their department. There is a deep-rooted culture that sharing your opinions is not popular.’

Laseke said the city has “32-33’’ employees and he doesn’t share Fredricks’ view of the culture

“I think the employees in the city are a great bunch of people,’’ Laseke said. “They work hard and the vast majority of them work well together. Does that mean everybody is overjoyed with their experience? It depends on the day of the week, just like the rest of us.’’