Washoe County Commissioner Kitty Jung has released a statement in regards to her discrimination investigation.
The Washoe County Commission and the Truckee Meadows Fire Protection District Board of Fire Commissioners chairman and vice-chair released a statement on Wednesday saying –
that an investigation determined that violations of Washoe County policy and Code of Conduct occurred. Specifically, Commissioner Jung was found to have made discriminatory comments about men in leadership positions, alleged sexual activities of staff, and sexual orientation of staff. Further, the investigator determined that all complaints were made in good faith.
In response, Washoe County Human Resources has done the following:
- Directed a thorough, third-party investigation.
- Recommended specific training for Commissioner Jung; the requirements of the training were adopted by the Board of Commissioners in 2018 (Discrimination, Harassment and Retaliation Policy).
- Strongly suggested Commissioner Jung refrain from engaging in similar conduct in the future.
- Reminded Commissioner Jung that retaliation against an employee for filing a complaint or providing information related to a complaint, is not tolerated.
- Washoe County and the Truckee Meadows Fire Protection District have acted to the fullest extent of existing statutory authority on this matter.
Earlier, Washoe County Commissioner Kitty Jung released her own statement in regards to her discrimination investigation.
In it she claims she accepts the findings included in the original documents and accepts going to discrimination and harassment training..
Internal documents to Washoe County Commissioner Kitty Jung reveals that she violated discrimination and harassment policy and made discriminatory comments related to “sexual orientation of staff.” The letter also says other allegations of inappropriate comments were unsubstantiated.
According to the document obtained by 2 News, Washoe County Human Resources received complaints for events on April 4th, 2019 and April 17th, 2019. H.R. hired an independent investigator for each of the two cases.
For the first incident, the investigation found:
- Based upon the preponderance of the evidence, the allegation that you made comments that an employee’s superior “needs to go” in violation of the Washoe County Code of Conduct is substantiated.
- Based upon the preponderance of the evidence, the allegation that you made discriminatory comments related to gender and sexual orientation in violation of the Washoe County Discrimination and Harassment Policy is substantiated.
- Based upon the preponderance of the evidence, the investigator concluded that the complaint was made in good faith.
The second investigation found:
- Based upon the totality of the evidence, the allegation that you made inappropriate comments about the sexual activities of Washoe County staff in violation of the Washoe County Discrimination and Harassment Policy is substantiated.
- Based upon the preponderance of the evidence, the allegation that you made discriminatory comments related to sexual orientation of staff in violation of the Washoe County Discrimination and Harassment Policy is substantiated.
- All other allegations of inappropriate comments were unsubstantiated.
The names of employees are not provided in the document for privacy reasons. The county H.R. department “strongly suggests” Commissioner Jung take Discrimination and Harassment Training. We have reached out to Commissioner Jung Friday morning and after speaking with her over the phone have not received a response as of Friday evening.