A former director of human resources for the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services has filed a lawsuit against the state alleging discrimination and harassment.Ìý
Theresa Hill, who worked for the department from July 2017 until she left in 2019, reported to former CEO Courtney Phillips and Chief Operating Officer Bo Botelho. She said the discrimination and harassment were based on sex, age and race, and she was retaliated against for reporting that conduct.
In July 2017, according to the complaint, Botelho told Hill he had a former director of human resources for the Department of Administrative Services fired after she began a sexual harassment investigation against him. Botelho had been the chief operating officer for that department before moving to the Department of Health and Human Services.
Hill said in the lawsuit that Botelho asked her to fire HHS human resources employee Patty Runge, because she had participated in the investigation against him. He told Hill he had searched emails and files of Runge and the former Department of Administrative Services human resources director to identify information they had gathered against him, the complaint said.Ìý
Hill said she declined to investigate Runge in order to fire her. She later learned a Department of Administrative Services human resources manager she had been asked to contact for information was in a relationship with Botelho, the complaint said.
Hill said she received a $30,000 raise for outstanding performance in November 2017. About that time, Phillips directed her to do an investigation outside her normal duties.Ìý
That investigation found that Botelho was involved in a Department of Health and Human Services contract with Clean Well Technologies of Gretna.
The complaint said Botelho was aware of the involvement of Public Health Water Well Standards Program Manager Tom Christopherson in procuring the $2 million contract with Clean Well. His brother, Bill Christopherson, was a shareholder of the company.Ìý
The lawsuit said Tom Christopherson claimed Clean Well was the only company that had a certain well-drilling apparatus, which effectively barred others from winning the contract. But after Christopherson's brother left Clean Well for a competitor, Christopherson attempted to revise the contract to benefit the competitor, she said.
Hill said permitting the use of state funds for the benefit of a private company is a violation of Nebraska law and administrative policies.Ìý
Hill said she also was asked to investigate allegations within the Department of Administrative Services of women over the age of 40 being demeaned and fired unlawfully, other sexual harassment and retaliation allegations, and contract irregularities.
Hill initially declined to do an investigation when asked by Jason Jackson, then the state's human resources director, because she was fearful of retaliation by Botelho, she said.ÌýÂ
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But having been reassured by Jackson, she began an investigation in 2018 alongside Kevin Workman, the human resources director of the Nebraska State Patrol. They found unlawful activities committed by Botelho when he was at the Department of Administrative Services, the lawsuit alleged.Ìý
In November 2018, Gov. Pete Ricketts fired Byron Diamond, the state's director of administrative services, for how he handled a temporary employee who was mistreating female employees. He also fired two other employees, but to Hill's knowledge, Botelho was not disciplined.
After the investigation, Hill said, Botelho began to harass Hill, saying that he couldn't protect her anymore and that people didn't like her. She alleged he made untrue comments in her performance evaluation and began to make decisions about her department without consulting her.
Workman, Hill's partner in the investigation, has since been promoted and is now the state personnel director.Ìý
Ricketts' office does not typically comment on pending lawsuits, said spokesman Taylor Gage, "however, the outlandish claims made here need to be immediately dismissed."
He said the governor’s office does not tolerate discrimination, including racial discrimination. And no comments alleged in the lawsuit were ever made by the governor's team.
Because of the alleged ongoing discrimination, retaliation, unfair treatment and working conditions that had become intolerable, and the state's alleged failure to address it, Hill resigned in February 2019. When a new CEO was appointed to the Department of Health and Human Services, Hill unsuccessfully tried to rescind her resignation, she said.Ìý
In March 2019, she obtained a new position outside Nebraska.Ìý
Hill said she has lost income and the value of job-related benefits and continues to incur damages, including emotional harm. She is asking for compensatory damages and a jury trial in Lancaster County.Ìý
A Department of Health and Human Services spokeswoman said she could not comment on the lawsuit, but the department complies with applicable federal civil rights laws and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, sex or disability in admission to its programs, services or activities, or in its hiring or employment practices.Ìý