PASCO, Wash. – A longtime Pasco School District employee said he’s been dealing with racial harassment since 2012 and the Pasco School District tried to silence him by putting him on leave and then demoting him in a form of retaliation.
The lawsuit was filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Richland by Jose Hernandez.
Hernandez is still employed with the district but said it’s in a building with numerous safety issues.
“It was in 2012 when I had my first incident that was a surprise to me to hear the language and the reference made about me being a Hispanic,” said Jose Hernandez.
Hernandez has been with the district for 17 years and has been racially harassed by his employees since 2012.
Hernandez said he’s reported these ongoing incidents but, they continued to get worse.
“I went up to the superintendent’s level, assistant superintendent, executive directors,” he said. “Multiple folks.”
According to Hernandez, no action was taken.
The Pasco School District said in a statement:
“The Pasco School district does not tolerate discrimination and the district superintendent Michelle Whitney adamantly disagrees with the characterizations in Mr. Hernandez’s claim.”
Hernandez filed a lawsuit where he mentioned in 2016 there was graffiti on buildings of the school district with his name and harassing words next to it. He said he sent an email about it to the district.
“The hate crime that took place with the tagging that took place, all of those were clearly specified and nothing,” said Hernandez.
According to the PSD, “The district enlisted the support of local law enforcement and a third-party investigator respectively to identify and hold the person or persons accountable.”
In 2021 PSD removed him from his position as Transportation Director and placed him on disciplinary leave for a year and a half with pay.
According to Hernandez, he asked to go to the school board in 2021 to let them know about the hostile work environment and since he was placed on leave, legally he couldn’t be on school grounds.
The district claims the reason Hernandez was removed was because he allowed a bus driver to drive with low levels of alcohol in the driver’s system.
Hernandez’s lawyer Beth Bloom said drivers are randomly selected for a breathalyzer test, the test showed there were traces of alcohol in the driver’s system so he reached out to the district.
“I called for assistance through the district office,” said Hernandez. “No one returned my call. I followed the guidelines that I’m supposed to follow, at the end of the day the results came back negative, that he was not under the influence, but yet the district still acted upon it.”
According to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration standards, .02 is the lowest level at which a scientifically accurate breath/BAC can be measured.
According to court documents the driver blew between .014-.016.
Hernandez claims the district did nothing to the driver and demoted Hernandez.
In the statement from the PSD, Any amount of alcohol violates Pasco School District Policy 5259, which establishes a zero tolerance for alcohol. As an administrator, it was Mr. Hernandez’s responsibility to know and enforce this policy.
In the policy below, the words zero tolerance never appear.
Hernandez said he’s suing for lost wages, damages for emotional harm and punitive damages.
Hernandez is also hoping for a jury trial.
NonStop Local reached out to members of the Pasco School Board and only got one response that said to direct all media questions to the district.
The Pasco School District’s attorney Emma Gillespie said she stands by the district’s statement.
