High officer sues MTS for retaliation over fallout of Nathan Fletcher scandal

SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — A brand new lawsuit is going through the San Diego Metropolitan Transit System over the company’s response to allegations of sexual misconduct levied at former chairman of the board Nathan Fletcher.

MTS chief info officer Emily Outlaw filed the go well with in opposition to the company on Tuesday, claiming she was retaliated in opposition to after elevating questions on after they have been made conscious of the accusations surrounding the then-County Supervisor from a former worker, Grecia Figueroa.

An announcement from MTS on April 6 and a 90-page report on a subsequent unbiased investigation into MTS’ response launched in January stated that officers weren’t conscious of Figueroa’s claims till shortly earlier than her lawsuit was filed in March 2023.

Nonetheless, Outlaw refutes this in her go well with alleging that MTS officers knew concerning the allegations over a month prior attributable to an e mail with a letter despatched by Figueroa’s attorneys to chief human assets officer Jeff Stumbo on Feb. 17 that notified them of potential authorized motion.

That was the identical day Stumbo reportedly despatched an official discover of termination to Figueroa, two weeks after giving her discover they have been planning to let her go and wished to interact in severance negotiations.

Outlaw additionally claims within the grievance that she was instructed by her supervisor, chief government officer Sharon Cooney, in early April to “retrieve” messages despatched by Figueroa by a communications platform utilized by MTS.

Nonetheless, she refused saying it will require her staff to interrupt its insurance policies by hacking into the account, in keeping with the go well with. It doesn’t element what messages Outlaw was instructed to retrieve and who was on the receiving finish.

Within the months that adopted, the grievance claims Outlaw’s relationship with Cooney “deteriorated,” cumulating together with her being positioned on paid administrative depart between December 2023 and February 2024 for an unknown motive.

She additionally alleges her efficiency evaluate ranking was practically minimize in half after receiving good marks the yr prior, and was denied a cost-of-living elevate — one thing the grievance says is commonplace for MTS staff.

FOX 5/KUSI reached out to MTS for a press release however didn’t instantly obtain a response. In earlier statements, the transit company has maintained they weren’t conscious of the particular allegations till the tip of March when Figueroa filed her lawsuit, regardless of the Feb. 17 letter.

Based on the grievance, Stumbo stated he “didn’t see” the letter till after a number of days after it was despatched, as a result of it went to his spam folder.

On April 3, Outlaw stated she was tasked with conducting an IT investigation into whether or not this recounting was right forward of a gathering of the MTS Board of Administrators later that month to debate the litigation.

The grievance claims this investigation led Outlaw to imagine Stumbo did open and browse the e-mail, because it was forwarded to MTS’ outdoors authorized counsel. Based on the grievance, Outlaw advised Cooney of this in a gathering on Apr. 20, allegedly prompting her to depart the room abruptly.

The precise contents of the letter weren’t disclosed within the grievance, though the report from the skin investigation into Figueroa’s accusations described it as a notification to the company that she was “investigating potential claims of harassment and sexual assault and instructing the defendants to protect all related proof in anticipation of litigation.”

The report goes on to say the letter “doesn’t present any information concerning the alleged misconduct, however consists of normal classes of ‘potential authorized claims,’” together with sexual harassment, sexual assault and retaliation for complaining concerning the alleged misconduct.

As of Thursday, Outlaw seems to stay employed as MTS’ chief info officer, in keeping with her public LinkedIn profile.

“The MTS management tried to crush Ms. Outlaw as a result of she advised the reality about emails her bosses wished the general public to imagine had been misplaced,” Outlaw’s lawyer, Dan Gilleon, stated in a press release despatched to FOX 5/KUSI on Thursday, including they positioned “a big goal on her again.”

“This lawsuit won’t trigger MTS to halt using finger-pointing, back-biting, and deception as its first line of protection,” he continued. “As a substitute, MTS can pay lots of of hundreds of taxpayer {dollars} to proceed the dodge-and-weave.”

The preliminary lawsuit filed by Figueroa in opposition to Fletcher and MTS seems it can proceed to trial early subsequent yr, with discovery hearings scheduled to start on the finish of this month. Right now, it’s unclear how Outlaw’s go well with could also be impacted as soon as the trial begins.

FOX 5’s Zara Barker contributed to this report.