Thursday, September 6, 2012

Musings: Racial Harassment at OPA

I'm not sure which is best: a bouncing welcome home from my two dogs, sleeping on clean sheets in my own bed or watching the web of lies and distortion spun by Kauai Prosecutor Shaylene Iseri-Carvalho and her supporters continue to unravel.

Yup, we've got another report of racial harassment, and this time it's coming straight from the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). The agency issued a press release this morning that states “Kauai County will pay $120,000 to settle a federal charge of race harassment.”

The charge was filed in 2010 by Shannon M. Weigel, a white woman who was formerly employed as a deputy prosecuting attorney in the Office of Prosecuting Attorney (OPA). According to the EEOC release, Shannon “alleged that she was harassed due to her race by a top-level manager. The manager allegedly made continually disparaging comments to the former attorney, saying that she needed to assimilate more into the local culture and break up with her boyfriend at the time, also white, in favor of a local boy.”

The “top-level manager” was Shay herself, who allegedly told Shannon that she was never going to get ahead here on Kauai so long as she had a haole boyfriend. And the way it works is that when top managers behave badly, the county — as in the taxpayers — pay the price. So far, as I've previously reported, the county has paid out $223,000 in EEOC claims against Shay and the OPA.

The press release goes on to state (emphasis added):

The EEOC ultimately found reasonable cause to believe that the county violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 for the harassment to which the former attorney was subjected. Following the determination, the County of Kauai entered into an over two-year conciliation agreement with the EEOC and the alleged victim. The agreement effectively settles the case administratively, thereby avoiding potential litigation. Aside from the monetary relief, the county agreed to establish policies and complaint procedures dealing with discrimination and harassment in the workplace and to provide live EEO training to all managers and supervisors. The county further agreed to post notices on the matter on all bulletin boards throughout the county and to permit the disclosure of the settlement.

"The workplace is no place for derogatory remarks pertaining to race or any other protected basis, and it is important for an employer to take immediate corrective action when faced with illegal harassment," said Timothy Riera, director of the EEOC's Honolulu Local Office. "We commend the County of Kauai for expeditiously resolving this matter and agreeing to measures which will prevent and deal with both harassment and discrimination on the job."

So how is the Shay team — especially her taxpayer-funded junior deputy blogger — gonna spin this one? They, and he, can't dismiss it, like they did Erin Wilson's settlement, by claiming no reasonable cause of discrimination was found. Because in this case, the EEOC actually did do an investigation and did find reasonable cause.

Surely they can't claim, at least, not with any credibility, that the EEOC is also in on a conspiracy to settle these cases to discredit Shay right before the election.

And Shay and her top deputy, Jake Delaplane, can't possibly continue to play dumb and pretend that they knew nothing about any of this until Justin Kollar revealed it during the recent prosecutorial debate. I mean, the county was in discussion on Shannon's case for over two years, and Jake himself attended the Honolulu mediation sessions in Erin's case.

Actually, what Shay and Jake have contended is they didn't know the dollar amount of the settlements. So what? They still knew that the office they manage had received four EEOC complaints. And that's significant, when you consider that all the other county departments combined got just two such complaints in the same four-year period.

At any rate, I'll have more details on this case in tomorrow's post. And I sure hope The Garden Island, which has just a tiny wire service report on this today, digs a little deeper and doesn't sweep it under the rug or let Jake lie and spin, like it did with the Erin Wilson story.

Speaking of lying and spinning, I wonder how Shay is doing on that “full and fair investigation” she promised during the debate into the $1 million supposedly missing from the county, now that even her two supporters on the Council approved a bill settling up the accounting discrepancy.

26 comments:

Anonymous said...

Digging her hole deeper and deeper. Let's see how her supporters who post here regularly are going to spin this latest revelation? I'm sure they'll have one excuse or another. Bottomline, that's not what our tax dollars should be going for. Is she really that stupid? You may think that shit in your brain but as manager of that department, you don't verbalize it. Not so swift. Her biases obviously affect her judgement. Her arrogance at thinking she's untouchable is beyond belief!

Anonymous said...

Funny how when haoles get discriminated against, they get a big payout but when a local is discriminated against, they get nothing. Just sayin...

Anonymous said...

Nice try, but one of the four women that Shay discriminated against and who got a payout was a local. Just sayin....

Anonymous said...

Hi!

Anonymous said...

Don't kid around about race in Hawaii. A haole will always laugh and say 'you so funny, but a haole will always turn on you when they think they can make a buck. The islands belongs to them. get used to it.

Just sayin

Anonymous said...

As the total payout of the lawsuits moves higher.....I wonder......why in the hell is this county continuing to pay Shay? As I said before.....Shay the gig is up.....give it up!

Anonymous said...

We all pay for Shay!

Elaine Albertson said...

Just sayin'...your attitude seems to be part of the problem.

There are more of these EEOC actions pending within the county, and not just in the OPA. The problem is endemic, has been for decades, and won't go away unless the bigots are forced to behave. And...it is NOT a cultural issue. It's an issue of civil rights and decency. There is no difference between what happened in OPA and what happened (and in some places continues to happen) in the Mainland Deep South.

I have a new friend, a little black dog who was obviously once abused before being taken in by a kind and considerate woman. After the first 24 hours of growling and barking, he became rather like velcro (with a waggling butt) at my feet, in my lap, etc.

The point is that if you treat someone...even an animal...with equality, consideration, and compassion then you will have very few problems and much productivity.

Anonymous said...

These $$ penalties should be paid by the offender -- Shaylene -- not by the taxpayers!

Anonymous said...

Shayme damn sure should be held accountable for her actions. The liabilities are endless with this PA and the county or insurers aren't concerned about these abuses of power. Oh yeah its not their monies, it's the tax paying fools that's fronting the tab on these EEO complaints.

Anonymous said...

Just saying - maybe cuz some locals don't know how to advocate for themselves or know their rights. Its a matter of education. Discrimination is color blind and works both ways. If allowed to continue it festers and grows. Its Shay's job as Dept Head to shut it down, but she is the problem. Its her job to maintin a professional tone in the office, removing offensive posters from walls, forbidding harassment in any form, but when shit starts at the top this is what you get - 4 EEOC complaints. She needs to be voted out of office!!!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

I'll be casting my vote for Kollar, for sure.

Anonymous said...

The point is that if you treat someone...even an animal...with equality, consideration, and compassion then you will have very few problems and much productivity."

Great Point! Really seems to be at the root of all this OPA hatred going in all directions.



Anonymous said...

I believe the county could go after Shay to recover it's damages. It would be difficult to prevail but enough is enough. We all know it and this confirms it. Shay is a racist. It's an absolute shame that so many will vote for her again. I do think Kollar has a great chance of getting in. I'll vote for him simply to get Shay the heck out of there. It will be very intersting to see Jake's response. He continues to throw his career away to 'save' his crummy boss.

Anonymous said...

Spill the wine take that pearl. Itsch free money, money das free.

Anonymous said...

Does the federal government finding the prosecutor violated discrimination laws place any of the OPA or County grant funding in jeopardy?

Anonymous said...

King Bernard

just got another position in the county elate under his control and will spend as much of our money as the council will give him to defeat the Police commision. He could not do it by asking the people so now he is just grabing the power.

Anonymous said...

Well he will have to compete with Shaylene in terms of spending as much of our County money as possible.

Dawson said...

>...it is NOT a cultural issue. It's an issue of civil rights and decency. There is no difference between what happened in OPA and what happened (and in some places continues to happen) in the Mainland Deep South.<

Exactly right. Culture is the smoke screen that hides the core issue, which is the indecent domination and dehumanization of another human -- in this case by the violation of his/her civil rights.

Anonymous said...

From Civil Beat article by Nathan Eagle.....

A federal civil rights agency says Kauai County Prosecutor Shaylene Iseri-Carvalho likely harassed a white lawyer who worked for her based on her race.
The county has agreed to pay $120,000 to settle the claim and avoid litigation.
But Iseri-Carvalho says it's all a conspiracy to keep her from being re-elected in November.

"This is just a ploy for them to get their colleague, Justin Kollar, elected," she said.

"It's outrageous," she said. "I want all this information released to the media so the public is aware this is just a conspiracy with the County Attorney's Office to make our office look bad ... before the general election."

Desperation time... now the EEOC, a federal agency is involved in a conspiracy. Sad and Pathetic.

Anonymous said...

Shay, you don't need the County Attorney's office to make you look bad. You hired Jake and Charlie for that.

Anonymous said...

"But Iseri-Carvalho says it's all a conspiracy to keep her from being re-elected in November. "

More likely that the Obama funded EEOC has identified Kauai County as a problem employer and is going to bang Kauai in the pocketbook until it's leaders get the message.

Anonymous said...

"More likely that the Obama funded EEOC has identified Kauai County as a problem employer and is going to bang Kauai in the pocketbook until it's leaders get the message."

I think the comment above is straight on and not only will there be continued EEOC scrutiny but the Feds are getting calls from citizens asking that they criminally prosecute those responsible. Kauai is kind of like the deep South. Racism and ethnocentric thinking run rampant here but the times they are a changing.

Anonymous said...

The US Department of Justice should investigate all government departments on Kauai. The actions of these abusers are tied into their Cult like mentality. The facts that she belongs to a powerful group of abusers should be investigated.

Anonymous said...

Shame said on Thursday, "Civil settlements are expeditious and cost effective ways of resolving cases. They should not be used to infer guilt or wrongdoing on the settling party" WTH?? The county better have deep pockets if she stays around, they'll be writing lots of checks!!

Anonymous said...


"The county better have deep pockets if she stays around, they'll be writing lots of checks!!"

Oh please. Al never met a lawsuit he didn't want to settle with the taxpayers' money. And in this case he encouraged the women to sue!