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Falls filed discrimination complaint in 2006 Former Jackson County Sheriff Corey Falls held a press conference shortly before leaving office saying he was treated in a demeaning way by county officials. Mail Tribune / Larry Stauth Jr. Friday Jan 6, 2017 at 7:02 PM Jan 6, 2017 at 7:04 PM Vickie Aldous Mail Tribune @VickieAldous Long before he was elected Jackson County sheriff, Corey Falls filed a discrimination complaint against the sheriff's office after he was not hired for lieutenant and sergeant positions in 2005. In the complaint, Falls, who is African-American, said he believed the sheriff's office "refused to hire me as a Lieutenant or Sergeant in October 2005 because of my race." Falls filed the complaint with the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries Civil Rights Division in 2006. BOLI dismissed his complaint later that year. Falls left his position as Jackson County sheriff at the end of December after serving two years of a four-year term. During a parting press conference, Falls said he was excited to start a new job with the Gresham Police Department near Portland, but also said he left because he faced a hostile work environment and was demeaned and humiliated by Jackson County Administrator Danny Jordan, Senior Deputy County Administrator Harvey Bragg and Jackson County Budget Committee members. In response to Falls' allegations, the county released a confidential 2016 draft report by outside investigators it hired. The report concluded Falls did not face a hostile work environment during his time as sheriff. A footnote in the report noted Falls had made "race discrimination allegations" in 2006 against the sheriff's office, but said "his complaint and its outcome have no bearing on this investigation." The Mail Tribune obtained documents related to the 2006 complaint after filing a public records request. In a letter to BOLI in 2006, Jackson County argued Falls, who worked for the Ashland Police Department at the time, did not have as much experience as the five men who were eventually hired to fill one lieutenant and four sergeant positions. All five worked for the sheriff's office and had experience with its operations. In a phone interview Friday, Falls said the sheriff's office tried to appear as if it had open hiring practices and wanted to hire the best candidates, but the office was only interested in tapping its own employees and promoting from within. "The county has jobs open to the outside to get the most qualified people and to get the best applicants and to diversify the organization," Falls said. "But if you fall back on the rationale of, 'This person's worked here longer,' what sense does that make?" For the lieutenant position, Falls was one of six applicants interviewed by a panel of three senior law enforcement officials from the Medford Police Department, Jackson County Community Corrections and the sheriff's office. Falls ranked second out of the six in the interview portion of the evaluation. A sheriff's office sergeant who eventually received the lieutenant job was ranked fourth. "They put more weight on experience than the interview. The interview showed the totality of what someone could bring to the table," Falls said. Falls at the time had seven years of Oregon and Washington police experience, while the sergeant had 16 years of experience — all with the sheriff's office. According to a letter from the county's human resources department to BOLI, "Importantly, Mr. Falls has no experience in a Sheriff's Office. When evaluating experience, weight was given to Sheriff's Office experience because it includes experience dealing with functions not performed in a police department such as Search and Rescue, Marine Patrol and Corrections. This experience is considered valuable as this Lieutenant position will work with and coordinate with these divisions of the Sheriff's Office regularly." Falls said he did have experience with sheriff's offices because he had been assigned to a multi-agency regional task force during his time with a police department in Washington. He said his advanced education was also not given enough weight in the hiring process. As for the sergeant positions, the county said the men hired had various experience with different aspects of the sheriff's office, including in the corrections and criminal divisions, and with detective and drug enforcement team work. One of the men hired was Native American, the county said. As part of its investigation, BOLI requested additional information from the sheriff's office about African-American job applicants. Between 2003 and 2006, 1,433 applicants applied for deputy positions and provided information about their race. Of those, 22 applicants — or 1.5 percent — were African-American. The county hired no African-Americans. For sergeant positions, 34 applicants provided race information and one was African-American. That person was Falls. The county did not hire him. For lieutenant positions, 22 applicants provided race information and two were African-Americans. One of the two was Falls. The county hired no African-Americans. Falls said he was not aware of the overall data about African-American applicants, so that information did not play a role in his decision to file a discrimination complaint about his own experience. In his complaint, Falls said he was offered an entry-level position as a deputy with the sheriff's office, but did not accept the position because he was overqualified for that job. The county told BOLI Falls was not officially offered a deputy job, although he was asked whether he would consider a deputy position during the interview process. As for the confidential 2016 draft report that found Falls did not face a hostile work environment during his time as sheriff, Falls said the report was biased and investigators did not interview people in the sheriff's office or talk to stakeholders. Falls said the county's decision to release the confidential draft after his December press conference was an act of retaliation. "Releasing the draft was another case of them trying to bully me and retaliate," he said. "It was a one-sided investigation. Putting the document out there makes me look silly." Jackson County Counsel Joel Benton said the county did not release the draft report as an act of retaliation. While documents related to potential litigation can sometimes be kept private under public records law, documents can be released if doing so serves the public interest more than keeping the information private. Multiple media outlets had requested the report. After reviewing the issue, the legal department decided releasing the report served the public interest more than keeping it confidential, Benton said. The county hired investigators after Falls sent a letter to Jackson County Human Resources in 2015 saying he had been subjected to a hostile work environment after he was elected sheriff in November 2014. Falls said he was treated in an unprofessional, demeaning and discriminatory manner. The report said the trouble began when Falls wrongly assumed he would come into office and receive the same salary as outgoing Sheriff Mike Winters, who had served three terms and was receiving $132,000. However, Jackson County has a policy to pay newly elected officials at step one of a pay scale, meaning Falls would receive significantly less than Winters. The report said Falls did not clearly present data justifying various decisions he made to the Jackson County Budget Committee and failed to fully understand members' concerns. The report said there was a pattern of miscommunication and misunderstandings, with Falls believing too much in the independence of the sheriff and not understanding he needed to be part of a team of county leaders. Jordan, the county administrator, wanted to meet frequently with Falls to mentor him, communicate and offer help — a practice he has followed with other elected officials and new county department heads. Falls felt demeaned and micro-managed, the report said. The report lauded Jordan for his work managing the county, especially its finances, and said Falls was a capable sheriff with tremendous potential. At the end of the 108-page report, the investigators said Falls should be given a chance to withdraw his complaint about a hostile work environment so that the report would not have to be publicly released. Falls sent a letter withdrawing his complaint and asking for confirmation that all paper copies of the draft report would be gathered back up and kept confidential at the investigators' law firm. He said Friday he "absolutely" felt pressured to withdraw his complaint. Falls said the county spent approximately $40,000 on the investigation and draft report. The Mail Tribune has submitted a public information request to Jackson County about the cost. Falls said he does not have regrets about airing his grievances during his last press conference as sheriff. "I hope one day something positive comes of this," Falls said. "I've received an outpouring of support since saying something. I've gotten texts, phone calls and emails from people saying, 'I've been treated that way.' I didn't want to leave Jackson County that way. People have been through similar situations and they haven't had a voice. If this generates discussion and growth, that's good. If it fizzles out, I'm sorry for the turmoil." A community panel appointed by the Jackson County Board of Commissioners will interview six sheriff applicants Monday. The panel will recommend three candidates to commissioners, who will later name a sheriff to complete the remaining two years of Falls' term. — Reach staff reporter Vickie Aldous at 541-776-4486 or [email protected]. Follow her at www.twitter.com/VickieAldous.