The decision by Cascade County to pay Rina Moore $52,500 shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone. It isn’t because of the “nuisance value” of making her political belief discrimination complaint go away. It’s because anyone with any experience in employment law could see the county was going to lose this lawsuit and the liability was going to be much, much bigger as time went on.
Here is What the County’s Lawyer Said
Consider this statement by the outside counsel, Jordan Crosby, hired by the county. She explained the process of the State Human Rights Bureau’s (HRB) investigation. The HRB investigator can issue a “reasonable cause” finding that indicates the investigator believes discrimination occurred.
“But there were a lot of concerns related to some of the things that happened during that hiring, and they continued to keep coming back to those. and from my experience, which my background is, I defend these cases all across the State of Montana. When you’re getting those kind of comments from the investigator during the process. It is likely you’re going to be getting a cause finding. and, as we know, with the cause finding that sends us down the route of a lengthy public hearing process through the Hearings office and why that is important is there can be significant damages awarded.”
She went on to explain,
“But there were some facts that I think definitely caused me concern that we would get a reasonable cause finding.”
She concluded,
“In the grand scheme of this case. It is actually, I think, very relatively minimal of what the county would ultimately pay.”
To see the video of the entire meeting follow the below link.
https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/play/xU0sslgc5HBug36-NZ3PaY71YeqxQNqHo1pGOG__2GPQ8VF8Ur7jEi9bSOLKlpeqnma_gZg8vF1PtLwS.bfyDUC6CADnzuFrB?canPlayFromShare=true&from=share_recording_detail&continueMode=true&componentName=rec-play&originRequestUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fus02web.zoom.us%2Frec%2Fshare%2FJBrauA95qYNX55Nuo8eGcKcT1MguoYI-MH4FP6TlTgbG25bG_LWZejO3y1UuOVoz.QUNAspf-xCtz9BJa
Anyone With Any Sense Knows
I worked as an investigator for the State Human Rights Commission in the 1980s. During that time I investigated hundreds of discrimination complaints. I then worked for the Montana Office of Public Instruction as the Personnel Director. I was responsible for administering and overseeing hiring processes, similar to the “structured” hiring process which was used by Cascade County in hiring the new administrator in the elections department, Terry Thompson.
I watched the interview process for the selection of the elections administrator on the internet. I also reviewed the scoring system used by the county and the individual scores by each of the county commissioners. By any measure, Rina Moore, with16 years applicable experience and relevant education and training, was the most qualified applicant. Instead the job was given to Terry Thompson who has no direct experience, education or training. The whole system was obviously subverted by Rae Grulkowski’s manipulation of the scoring system Check out our previous post on the hiring process. https://wtf406.com/2024/03/grulkowski-plays-dirty-did-we-really-expect-anything-else/
It shouldn’t have surprised anyone when Rina Moore filed a discrimination complaint against the county, after the way she was treated in the hiring process. It also shouldn’t surprise anyone when an experienced outside counsel urged the county to settle the case.
Secretary of State is Up Next
Rina Moore also filed a discrimination complaint against Montana Secretary of State, Christi Jacobsen. The complaint alleges that Jacobsen discriminated against her by sending a letter to the county commission urging them not to hire her. The smart money says Jacobsen will be writing a check to Moore as well. Stay tuned.