An exhaustive, 110-page investigative report into allegations of discrimination from a former staff person of color has concluded that she experienced 鈥渞acism, gender bias and microaggressions鈥� on the job at the Oregon Employment Department.
The outside investigation as a new division was taking shape under duress at the agency during the economic fallout of COVID-19.
Isela M. Ramos Gonzalez, an operations and policy analyst within OED鈥檚 Paid Family and Medical Leave Insurance Division, resigned in a terse email on Oct. 8, 2021. Ramos Gonzalez is Latina and a practicing attorney.
In her resignation, Ramos Gonzalez alleged 鈥渄iscrimination based on my race, ethnicity, and gender鈥� and said she 鈥渆xperienced a hostile work environment.鈥� In announcing she would leave the agency on Oct. 22, Gonzalez said her treatment signaled problems for the new division, saying the 鈥渆nvironment, implementation and policy direction of PFMLI and OED are inconsistent with internal state policies, applicable laws, and democracy.鈥�
Her message led to an outside investigation by the labor law firm Barran Liebman.
A year and a half later, Barran Liebman鈥檚 investigation details microaggressions and discriminatory practices that festered with little intervention by supervisors. The tensions only made life harder for program staff as they worked to set up a groundbreaking state program for supporting workers who needed paid time off to deal with personal or family challenges.
The report steers clear of pointing the finger at agency head David Gerstenfeld, referred to in the report as 鈥淢r. Acting Agency Director.鈥� Instead, investigators point to an overstretched department attempting to build a regulatory framework and functioning bureaucracy in the middle of a pandemic, under the watch of a division director with a passive leadership style.
The , or Paid Leave Oregon, was created by the Oregon Legislature in 2019. The goal was to pay people as they take time away from work for challenging circumstances, such as having a baby, recovering from a long-term illness, caring for a loved one or escaping domestic violence.
It was originally intended to have rules in place by late 2021, with employees and employers paying in by early 2022. A delay in the rollout of the paid leave program was allowed . The system only and isn鈥檛 slated to pay out benefits until September. The delay was largely blamed on complications created by the pandemic.
The economic fallout from COVID-19 and the businesses that were closed through government rules led to an overwhelming workload at OED鈥檚 Unemployment Insurance Division, particularly in 2020, with to get payments. by the Oregon secretary of state鈥檚 office detailed problems within the agency at the time, including an outdated computer system, unclear policies and other inefficiencies.
At the same time, staff members of color at the agency were complaining about a hostile work environment, as reported by a in November 2021, and now in the experience of Paid Leave Oregon analyst Ramos Gonzalez.
Ramos Gonzalez had started working in the paid family leave program in April 2021. Within seven months, she resigned.
Her experience in the agency, as detailed by investigators, shows a pattern of being treated with less respect than her peers, being questioned and undermined, and experiencing frequent microaggressions, all amid a workplace culture that resisted change, lacked strong leadership, and was not always in step with the state鈥檚 goals of equity and inclusion.
Investigators report that one of Ramos Gonzalez鈥檚 peers would typically receive 鈥渉igher level work鈥� than Ramos Gonzalez would receive. When Ramos Gonzalez offered advice 鈥� such as sharing her opinion as an attorney that the family leave appeals process needed to mirror the one used for unemployment claims 鈥� her suggestion wasn鈥檛 accepted 鈥渦ntil a white Department of Justice attorney and a white Administrative Law Judge agreed.鈥�
Ramos Gonzalez described repeated instances of microaggressions, such as having a colleague use the word 鈥渁liens鈥� in reference to people who don鈥檛 have legal work status. The employee responded to her dismissively, saying 鈥渨hatever you want to call them.鈥� At a meeting in September 2021, Ramos Gonzalez鈥檚 colleagues and manager discussed a recent trip she鈥檇 taken to Mexico. Ramos Gonzalez found the conversation uncomfortable, as a colleague referred to Mexico as 鈥渆xotic鈥� and her manager characterized the trip as a 鈥渧acation鈥� even though the manager knew it was for grieving and religious purposes.
By September, Ramos Gonzalez had gotten permission from the deputy director of the paid family leave program not to attend certain team meetings, called the 鈥渄aily scrum.鈥� She had received permission 鈥渘ot to attend those meetings because she had experienced racism, sexism, and a hostile work environment during the meetings鈥� investigators learned from Ramos Gonzalez and the deputy director. Other team members weren鈥檛 aware that she was no longer attending, and at one session, they started wondering aloud where she was. One called her 鈥淢IA.鈥� Another suggested putting her face on a milk carton, like a missing person.
As the investigative report points out, microaggressions by definition don鈥檛 have to be intentionally hurtful to have an impact. In several cases, the report suggests the white supervisors and colleagues involved didn鈥檛 appear to understand how their language or behavior was being received by a professional woman of color, such as Ramos Gonzalez.
In one example, a white colleague concluded in a conversation the limits of Ramos Gonzalez鈥檚 authority at the agency, saying that 鈥淸Ramos Gonzalez] could take certain action once [her manager] and [her peer] approved her to do so.鈥� The colleague thought she was 鈥渞ecapping鈥� a conversation. Ramos Gonzalez objected, feeling minimized. A department equity officer told investigators 鈥淚 could see the microaggression quite plainly.鈥�
Ramos Gonzalez was hired into a new division at an agency that was expected to change its own culture, and not continue 鈥渋nequities and disparities鈥� in other parts of the Employment Department, such as the unemployment insurance program. The investigation concludes that Ramos Gonzalez experienced firsthand, and more directly than other employees, resistance to change among agency employees.
鈥淭hose individuals, including [Ramos Gonzalez], who were actively invested in advancing those improvements, particularly where related to equity and access, were therefore more frequently met with resistance and frustration,鈥� the investigative report said.
Some in leadership positions at the agency expressed similar sentiments to investigators, such as the acting deputy director of the paid leave program, who like all others isn鈥檛 named in the report.
鈥淚 think there were all kinds of layers going on,鈥� the program deputy director is quoted saying in the report. 鈥淭here are people who are long-standing state employees who have never really done any other job besides line level work at the Employment Department [who] were resistant.鈥�
Another layer that the report touches on is Ramos Gonzalez鈥檚 professional manner, as a former litigator, which came across as 鈥渁brasive鈥� to some at the agency. At points in the report, staffers suggest that Ramos Gonzalez was being too direct in her communications and seemed 鈥渃hallenging鈥� in tone.
The cultural problems at the paid leave program were largely laid at the feet of a 鈥減assive鈥� acting director of the division, Gerhard Taeubel, who led the program until Karen Humelbaugh took over in November 2021. Staff members described the acting director as 鈥渁 very nice and intelligent man, but very passive, and as a result, not an active leader.鈥� But the leadership vacuum went beyond the director, to the team that surrounded him.
鈥淲here witness opinions diverged on multiple other topics, there was a uniform perspective that leaders of the group were unengaged, inconsistent, uncommunicative, and unable to guide their team members through the development and implementation of the program,鈥� the investigative report said.
That group included Ramos Gonzalez, as well as her supervisor and the program鈥檚 deputy director.
Some staff members who spoke to investigators pointed fingers at the agency head, Acting Director David Gerstenfeld. One administrator suggested that Gerstenfeld favored the views of people he had hired himself and had worked with for some time over the perspectives of people who were newer to the agency. The investigative report didn鈥檛 support that assertion.
The acting director鈥檚 statements in the investigative report are a reminder that the cultural problems, leadership difficulties and program delays were all happening within an agency that was simultaneously overwhelmed by attempting to provide benefits to cover pandemic-related economic losses. Gerstenfeld was increasingly pulled away from priorities elsewhere in the agency to focus exclusively on the acute problems with the unemployment program. He said, in terms of managing paid family leave, he had little alternative than to support Taeubel, the program director.
鈥淭he others absolutely didn鈥檛 have remotely the right level of state experience. Or [of] the people who did know our Agency, I don鈥檛 think they had prior management experience, so it was a non-starter,鈥� the investigative report quotes from the acting agency director.
The report acknowledges that the culture and operation of the paid leave program are ultimately the responsibility of the person at the top of the agency 鈥� Gerstenfeld 鈥� as the acting director. And the investigation concludes that leaders of the paid leave program weren鈥檛 getting the support they needed to perform the enormous task of standing up a new program in the middle of a pandemic. But the pandemic is in part why Gerstenfeld was given a pass.
The report says 鈥渂ased on a preponderance of the evidence鈥� that Gerstenfeld and the agency as a whole didn鈥檛 provide the support the new paid leave program needed. At the same time, the report excused the shortcoming, saying 鈥渢he extreme circumstances of the pandemic prevented them from reasonably providing additional support beyond the measure given.鈥�
While the investigation largely spares Gerstenfeld from blame, it does acknowledge the agency director took action that had a negative effect on Ramos Gonzalez, including statements the acting director made after she had emailed her resignation on Oct. 8. Gerstenfeld briefly discussed the discrimination complaint and plans for an outside investigation at a media briefing in October. He didn鈥檛 go into details or mention Ramos Gonzalez by name.
In an Oct. 20 email obtained by OPB, sent two days before she was due to leave the agency, Ramos Gonzalez complained that Gerstenfeld discussing her complaint was 鈥渦nlawful, intimidating, and coercive.鈥�
Along with the investigative report, Oregon Employment Department officials released a lengthy statement Thursday detailing diversity efforts at the agency and within the paid leave program itself.
鈥淲hat the complainant experienced was completely unacceptable and goes against the values we hold at the Oregon Employment Department. Equity and inclusion aren鈥檛 an option for us. It鈥檚 how we do business,鈥� Gerstenfeld said in the statement. 鈥淲e didn鈥檛 wait for this report to take action.鈥�
OED鈥檚 statement goes on to note the hire of Karen Humelbaugh, who started shortly after Ramos Gonzalez left, and her assembly of 鈥渁n almost entirely new leadership team.鈥� The statement says 鈥渁bout half鈥� of the new leadership team identifies as people of color, about 30 paid leave staff are bilingual, and the agency has started working with a consulting firm on racial equity training.
In addition, the agency says it has formed a data team to look at racial disparities in the family leave program, translated materials into at least five languages, and is meeting with 鈥淏lack, Indigenous, Latinx, Asian, Pacific Islander and Tribal communities to ensure that equity and racial justice are centered in our budget process.鈥�
The 110-page report from Barran Liebman documented events, interviewed staff members and drew conclusions. It didn鈥檛 offer recommendations.
鈥淭his investigation was limited to factfinding only.鈥�
Editor鈥檚 note: Barran Liebman is an OPB sponsor.
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