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Two suits challenge job terminations By CHRIS BRISTOL A Medford DMV employee was fired in retaliation for blowing the whistle all the way to Salem about the treatment of Hispanic and black co-workers, according to a lawsuit. The lawsuit was one of two wrongful-discharge complaints filed recently in Jackson County Circuit Court. The second was filed by a former employee of U.S. Forest Industries who alleges he was falsely accused of theft and then fired because his wife's cancer treatment was too costly. Both suits were filed by Medford lawyer Lee Werdell, a former criminal defense attorney who now specializes in civil litigation. This year, Werdell has won two high-profile wrongful discharge cases. In a complaint filed Oct. 20, Werdell sued the Oregon Department of Transportation on behalf of Ruth Woolley, a 15-year employee of Driver and Motor Vehicle Services, a division of ODOT. Woolley seeks protection under Oregon's 1989 whistleblower law, alleging she was terminated last December in retaliation for making complaints that "personnel within the DMV ... (were) treating Hispanic and Black employees in an abusive and discriminatory fashion." No co-workers were named and the allegations of mistreatment were not specified. Woolley says she finally took her complaints to Grace Crunican, director of ODOT in Salem. A spokesman for the agency did not return a call seeking comment Monday. Woolley alleges that her complaints resulted in retaliation from superiors, who refused to honor medical absences and subjected her to "lengthy, harassing, unreasonably critical and outrageously invasive questionings." She says supervisors criticized her over trivial matters and "incessant faultfinding," leading to stress-related performance problems and absences that were eventually used against her as a "pretext" for termination. She seeks more than $200,000 in damages. The second lawsuit filed Oct. 20 on behalf of Patrick Adams seeks more than $320,000 in damages from Medford-based U.S. Forest Industries. Adams alleges he was falsely accused of stealing work gloves from the wood-products company and then fired because his wife suffered from cancer -- a costly medical condition the company unwillingly covered through the company health plan. The company's behavior was particularly egregious because it left the couple without health insurance when they needed it most, the lawsuit alleges. In a brief interview Monday, company president Jerry Bramwell dismissed the lawsuit as "completely without foundation." Werdell has successfully sued two government agencies already this year. In April, a Jackson County judge awarded a former employee of the Support Enforcement Division more than $300,000 in damages. The plaintiff claimed she was fired because she refused to file a false sexual harassment case against a male co-worker. The judge was later forced to cap damages at $100,000. The state is appealing. Last week, another Jackson County judge awarded a former Medford firefighter more than $26,000 in back pay. The firefighter, now a Grants Pass police officer, argued she was fired after passing probation because of gender discrimination. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA