Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer has hired a law firm to review the structure of his office’s human resources department and provide guidance on building a “culture of trust” when reporting any workplace misconduct, he told the OC Board of Supervisors this week.
The review comes after a jury, this month, awarded $3 million to a former DA prosecutor, finding she was targeted by Spitzer and forced out of her job after she tried to shield lower-level colleagues who had been sexually harassed by another supervisor in the DA’s office.
“My goal has always been to ensure that our employees feel safe and that they have confidence in the process,” Spitzer said in a Wednesday statement. “The current HR structure was the system I inherited when I came into office, and I felt it was important to get a professional assessment by Liebert Cassidy Whitmore, a renowned law firm, as part of accomplishing that goal.”
Spitzer said he’s already briefed each county supervisor about these efforts and he will carry out the board’s direction to work with the county’s HR director to make any improvements necessary.
The goal, Spitzer told the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday, June 24, is to ensure that if there is any alleged misconduct, people have a place they can go to report it and trust that there will be unbiased follow through. And, any report made in confidence alleging that misconduct isn’t made public record, he added.
“They are looking at the policies in the DA’s office to advise, giving subsequent events, whether or not employees in my department feel that they can report and trust the reporting process,” Spitzer said. “I certainly have concerns about that myself.”
Fifth District Supervisor Katrina Foley asked that any survey of the DA’s office be done by the county’s HR department. A survey completed by a firm that the DA’s office hires would affect the credibility of the report, Foley said.
“I don’t think that you would be able to get honest information back from people, even if it’s just a perception of concern about retaliation,” Foley said. “Whether or not it’s happening, doesn’t matter. It’s a perception.”
Spitzer replied that he was OK with the county’s HR taking over the review and would work with county officials to figure out what is best.
“My goal, unequivocally, is to get out of the way of that process so that people feel they can report,” Spitzer said.
Chairman of the OC Board of Supervisors Doug Chaffee said “in light of some litigation and some other cases,” officials need to evaluate merging the DA’s HR office in some way with the county’s office, and if there needs to be additional staffing.
The jury in early June found Spitzer and his former second-in-command participated in harassing conduct and that the County of Orange did not take reasonable steps to correct it.
Spitzer said he welcomed the direction Chaffee gave county staff to evaluate a merger. The public defender and sheriff’s departments also have individual HR departments like the DA’s office.
Spitzer noted to supervisors that there has never been an allegation that current or former HR directors in his office have violated any equal employment opportunity policy.
“I felt an obligation to do an internal reflection on my own department,” Spitzer said. “I felt it was my personal responsibility to self-reflect on the culture and atmosphere of my office, to consult with experts, to review how we operate and give me direction about what I should do to build that culture of trust.”
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