If a group of eight current and former employees of the San Luis Obispo County Probation Department sue the county over alleged discrimination and harassment, the county will fight the lawsuit.

Earlier this month, the women, all Hispanic, filed a claim against the county seeking unspecified compensatory and general damages, including loss of wages and attorney fees, for alleged discrimination, harassment and retaliation based on their gender and race, according to the claim.

The county has 30 days to respond to the claim that was filed July 14 and then it can be filed as a lawsuit in Superior Court, said attorney Eric Woosley of Santa Barbara-based Zilinskas & Woosley, who is representing the women.

“They felt they had no other choice (but to take legal action),” Woosley said, adding a trial is about a year to 14 months out. “This was done to absolutely stop the harassment. That’s the No. 1 goal.”

The women, some of whom no longer work for the county, claim the Probation Department “promotes a culture of harassment and discrimination directed towards the Hispanic women working in that department,” according to the claim.

The claim alleges that the women, one of whom has worked for the Probation Department since 1980, were denied training and promotion opportunities made available to their white co-workers, and excluded from departmental meetings attended by white co-workers.

It also alleges they were assigned workloads disproportionate to those of their white co-workers, and were otherwise subjected to terms and conditions of employment different from those of their white co-workers.

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The women also claim they reported the discrimination and harassment many times to Chief Probation Officer Kim Barrett, who did nothing to stop the alleged wrongdoing and repeatedly refused to discipline white mid-level managers, supervisors and employees for the alleged discrimination and harassment.

After getting nowhere with their supervisor, the women filed a grievance late last year with the county Human Resources Department alleging a violation of county rules — discrimination and harassment.

County Administrative Officer David Edge said the county then hired an “outside expert” to investigate the employees’ allegation’s.

“We did a full-blown investigation,” he said. “(The investigation) found that the allegations were not merited. It’s reasonable to assume based on our own investigation that we will vigorously defend this lawsuit.”

Barrett, who has been with the department for 31 years and has served the last seven as chief probation officer, said the investigation “exonerated myself and the department from any harassment.”

“I’m very confident the department is an agency free of harassment,” Barrett said. “And I’m committed to that.”

Barrett declined to comment on specific allegations made in the claim against the county, but said she was aware of all the claims made by the group of women.

Woosley said he’s not surprised that the county found “no wrongdoing” when it investigated the allegations because “they did their own investigation, with their own investigator.”

“The reason (we filed the claim) is to get an impartial trial to occur,” he added.

He also said the lawsuit will seek to have the three women who are no longer with the Probation Department — one quit, another was terminated and the third transferred to a different department “to escape the harassing and discriminatory conduct she was experiencing” — reinstated.

Since filing the claim, Woosley said the work environment at the Probation Department has become even more hostile for his clients who still work there and want to keep their employment with the county.

“It’s become even more uninviting,” Woosley added.

Attempts to reach any of the eight women named in the 53-page claim were unsuccessful.

The Probation Department employs 164 people. Barrett makes all decisions on any disciplinary action taken against the department’s employees.

April Charlton can be reached at 489-4206, Ext. 5016, or acharlton@santamariatimes.com.

July 26, 2008