July 3, 2007

Council still holding closed sessions regarding city auditor’s office

Sexual harassment lawsuit, accusations brought by senior employee

By Carol Rosen
Staff Writer

While City Council members keep silent about the problems in the City Auditor’s office and its six employees on leave, an attorney for one of those employees has filed suit against a deputy auditor and the city.

Attorney Robert Bohn Jr., representing Jennifer Callaway, one of eight senior program performance auditors, has filed suit against Deputy Auditor David Moreno and the city of San Jose claiming sexual harassment and a sexually hostile environment. The suit, which was filed on June 14, mentions City Auditor Gerald Silva, but he is not a party in the suit, Bohn told the Times.

City Auditor Gerald Silva

It accuses Moreno of touching, which Bohn said others witnessed, and comments about her appearance. In addition, Bohn said Callaway complained that Silva discussed his sex life in detail among the employees. However, Silva is not a defendant, Bohn said by personal choice of his client.

“Silva did not touch her and Moreno did,” he said.

Mayor Chuck Reed said no decisions on the City Auditor’s office matter will be discussed until council members return from their July break.

The suit is seeking unspecified damages and compensation for Callaway’s medical and counseling related expenses, Bohn said.

“She prefers to go back to the city under appropriate conditions. She wants to go back to work to the same job without harm and retaliation, but she feels like her career has been compromised,” Bohn said.

Some people within the auditor’s office question her claim. According to a couple of employees, who asked to remain anonymous, Callaway was a regular visitor to the Moreno home and often went out with Moreno’s wife. She was treated no differently than any other employee and never complained of harassment. The employees also mentioned frequent visits from her boyfriend to her office.

Bohn admitted Callaway had been friends with the family until Moreno became her supervisor, and that’s when “things changed.”

“I have never received any information, indication, complaint or even the slightest hint or suggestion from any of my staff that I or any of my supervisors have ever said or done anything that anyone on my staff viewed as offensive or inappropriate,” Silva said Tuesday in a statement to the press. “Every conversation that I have had with Jennifer Callaway was welcomed, consensual, encouraged and reciprocated.”

However, while Silva told the Times that he was answering the lawsuit’s allegations, he said he “does not want to fight this in the newspapers.”

“As in prior years, the city’s latest anonymous employee survey confirms the high degree of employee satisfaction in the City Auditor’s office—specifically, on average, my employees were far more satisfied with their jobs and workplace than employees in other city departments or offices,” he said in his statement.

“My current employees have been with me from five to 20 years, with an average of 13 years of employment, and during a recent three-year period, my office experienced no employee turnover. Even though the work we do in the City Auditor’s office is challenging and at times stressful, it is also gratifying and rewarding. I am proud of my staff and what we have accomplished for the city of San Jose, as well as the national and international recognition that I and my office have consistently received for many years.”

At the same time Silva questioned statements made to another newspaper that Bohn had said Silva was “threatening people to testify in certain ways. Nothing could be further from the truth,” he said.

“We have to go through the investigation process. There are concerns. The city has a strong policy against harassment. We have to interview various witnesses and take appropriate action. Three claims have been filed. Anything relevant will be looked at,” City Attorney Rick Doyle said.

The matter will continue until the council resolves it, Doyle said, with expectations that could happen sometime within the next 30 to 60 days, he said, adding that the council “could” call a special meeting in July.

In the meantime, Steve Hendrickson has taken the position of interim auditor until the situation has been decided. The former chief deputy state auditor, who took that position on Jan. 1, 2001, and Silva have had a phone conversation, said Silva, and plan to meet so Silva can provide details on the office priorities.

Hendrickson’s career also includes a stint as audit principal with the bureau from 1993 to 2001 and in various management and supervisory positions with the California Auditor General’s office and the California Public Employees Retirement System.