Officials who administer the Oregon Legislature have no idea how many resignation and retirement deals lawmakers and administrators have approved during the last five years in order to usher employees out the door, state officials say.
They say the only way to figure out how many such agreements the Legislature has signed off on during the last five years would be to search all 1,100 or so personnel files for people employed by the Legislature during that time, a top human resources official and legislative public records lawyer recently told The Oregonian/OregonLive.
The bill the newsroom would have to pay to get that answer? More than $1,200, even after the state grants a 40 percent discount awarded since The Oregonian/Oregonive is seeking the information in the public interest.
“If we wanted to know (the number of agreements) over the last five years, we’d have to look at every single file,” said Human Resources Director Jessica Knieling in an interview earlier this month. “There is not a need for them centrally.”
The legal agreements have been in the news this year, with stories on a deal for the Legislature’s previous human resources director to resign and work on special projects from home for eight months while Knieling took over her role and an agreement for Senate President Peter Courtney’s office manager to resign and work from home for five months.
Both women agreed not to sue the state and each has been in the news related to hostile workplace investigations at the Capitol.
Last year, Oregon’s then-Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian accused human resources director Lore Christopher and the Legislature’s head lawyer, Dexter Johnson, of counseling women who complained of sexual harassment not to talk about it. Christopher and Johnson also allegedly told the women they lacked legal standing to sue, although that is false.
Meanwhile, Senate President Peter Courtney’s former office manager told Bureau of Labor and Industries investigators that the Democratic leader gave her an ultimatum to “either resign or be fired or be demoted” because he disapproved of her dating a House lawmaker, according to Avakian’s report delivered in early January. Courtney flatly denied his former employee’s allegations.
In an interview in January, Courtney’s chief of staff Betsy Imholt said of the agreements that there were “a handful that I’m aware of.”
To get a better idea of how widespread the practice is, The Oregonian/OregonLive filed a public records request on Jan. 8 for a copy of all legal agreements ending legislative a legislative worker’s employment during the last five years.
Three months later, the Legislature’s lawyers responded that the only way they could identify the agreements is through the comprehensive search of more than 1,000 personnel files. A new Oregon law requires governments to respond to public records requests within 15 business days but under the state Constitution, people cannot sue the Legislature to enforce public records laws during legislative sessions and the 15 days preceding them.
Cameron Miles, a lawyer for the Legislature who handles public records requests, said he searched for more efficient ways to locate all the employment termination agreements signed in the last five years but was unsuccessful. For example, going through five years of billing records submitted to the Legislature by the Oregon Department of Justice — which drafts the employment agreements and does other legal work as well — would also take up significant time.
The issue is complicated because lawmakers “make all their own calls” on hiring and firing, Miles said. As a result, human resources staff might not be aware of all the legal agreements arranged by individual lawmakers, Miles said.
Miles said he also consulted with Christopher, the former legislative human resources director, regarding whether her agreement was subject to The Oregonian/OregonLive’s January public records request.
“She didn’t even think of hers as complying with it, because it’s not a resignation agreement, it’s a retirement agreement,” Miles said. “But I pointed out it would definitely satisfy that requirement.”
The Oregonian/OregonLive had requested on Jan. 8 “all resignation agreements (as well as any other legal agreement to end a legislative employee’s employment whereby the employee agrees not to file suit)” that were signed in the last five years.
On Monday, Christopher said that Miles and top legislative lawyer Dexter Johnson make the final decision on which public records to release. As for whether her own employment agreement was covered by the public records request, she said “I don’t remember talking to him about it.”
Legislative Counsel Dexter Johnson said Christopher’s statement was incorrect. “We don’t make final decisions on anything having to do with public records, all we do is advise on whether a record is exempt or not,” Johnson said. "It is up to whoever is the subject of the request to make that decision.”
Ken Rocco, who as Oregon’s legislative fiscal officer oversees budget analysis, said there is no dedicated state fund within the $127 million legislative budget to pay for employment agreements. He said legislative administrator Daron Hill, who oversees the financial services and the human services units “that are responsible for most agreements and payments,” might be able to provide additional information. Hill initially referred requests for comment to Knieling, the new human resources director but in an email he did explain why centrally tracking the agreements was not necessary to identify possible patterns of workplace problems.
“We feel we are able to extract the necessary information from our personnel system regarding turnover indicators,” Hill wrote in an email.
This article has been updated with a response from Legislative Counsel Dexter Johnson to Lore Christopher’s statement about public records decisions.
— Hillary Borrud | hborrud@oregonian.com | 503-294-4034 | @hborrud
Visit subscription.oregonlive.com/newsletters to get Oregonian/OregonLive journalism delivered to your email inbox.