Former Employee sues City of The Dalles for race discrimination, wrongful termination

Saul Ascencio working at the triangle park on Kelly Avenue when he was employed with the City of The Dalles in August of 2020. Ascencio is now suing the city and supervisor David Mills for race discrimination and wrongful discharge after being terminated just a month after this photo was taken.

By Tom Peterson

A former Public Works employee with the City of The Dalles claims he endured race discrimination and was retaliated against by coworkers and his supervisor before being terminated in 2020. 

Saul Ascencio has filed a civil suit against the City and supervisor David Mills asking for up to $750,000 in compensation and additional attorneys fees in Wasco County Circuit Court.

No court dates have been set for the case, and it will be a minimum of 60 days before scheduling can occur, according to a court administrator.

The suit seeks several claims of relief for wrongful discharge, discrimination, whistleblower retaliation and aiding, abetting and compelling or inciting employees of the City to take adverse actions against Ascencio.

The suit maintains that although 25 percent of the population in Wasco County is non-white, the City of The Dalles employs only a small number of people of color, far below 25 percent of their total workforce.

It further says, the City does not have a diversity, equity and inclusion policy for its supervisors or employees, and it goes on to say the last time the city updated its internal employment policies with regard to race, color and or national origin was in 1999. 

Ascencio is identified in the filing as a first-generation American citizen who identifies as Mexican American, and he was the only person of color employed in the City’s Transportation Division. He was the only person of color employed in the Entire Public Works Department, the suit states. 

“Mr. Ascencio has devoted his life to serving his community and has worked extremely hard to provide for his family and be a role model for his sons,”  his attorney Marcus Swift told Willamette Week. “His experience at the City of The Dalles was appalling and outrageous, and the City’s response was a disgrace. Our government must be held accountable for the harm they have done to Mr. Ascencio and his family so that it does not happen again.”
The City of The Dalles is not commenting on the case, said City Attorney Jonathan Kara today, Sept. 9. CCCNews reached out to David Mills as well for comment.

Charges of Discrimination

In the complaint written by Swift, Ascencio alleges he was confronted by white coworkers after his hire in July 2017 who asked him, “Did you just cross the border?

”He said coworkers stated the only reason he was hired was that he was a “brown token”, the suit states.

“A white supervisor told Ascencio that other white coworkers were scared to work with him because they think he is an “MS-13 gang member,” the suit states.

MS-13 gang member alludes to the international criminal gang that originated in Los Angeles, California, in the 1970s.

Ascencio also alleges he heard a story from a fellow white coworker in the break room who repeatedly used the N-word to describe an African American person.

In the complaint, Ascencio said coworkers referred to him as a “beaner” and “lazy Mexican”, and he said he was berated for wearing a hat that said “Compton”.

The complaint states that Ascencio’s future supervisor David Mills would engage in negative stereotypes by mimicking and mocking Ascencio  after he left the break room by engaging in behavior such as turning his ball cap sideways, sagging his pants, and pretending to be a “gangsta.”

Mills only received a verbal reprimand from his supervisor for this action, according to the suit. 

“Defendant Mills, and upper-level managers at the City, would repeatedly use negative racial stereotypes typically used to describe people of color” to describe Ascencio’s demeanor and appearance, including accusing him of being “hostile”, “angry”, “defensive”, and “aggressive”, the suit says.

Ascencio complained about and reported these and other incidents of racism, bias and a hostile work environment to his superiors, the Director of Public Works, the Human Resources Director, and the City Manager, all of who are white and no substantive action was taken to reduce this hostile work environment, according to the suit. 

Rather, employees who engaged in racist behavior or comments were allowed to remain employed with the City, the suit says.

Early Performance Evaluations

Ascencio received 51 and 44 points out of 60 possible points on his performance evaluations in 2018 and 2019, according to the suit. His scores received a “Meet Expectations” rating and he was to be considered for promotion, the suit states.

Ascencio and Mills

According to the complaint, David Mills was passed over for a promotion to supervisor. 

Ascencio alleges that Mills attempted to coerce him into falsifying information about their new supervisor Chris Harrell in order to file a grievance and get Harrell terminated.

Ascencio refused, the suit states. 

Mills then pleaded with Harrell to terminate Ascencio, according to the complaint.

Harrell, before leaving the City for another position, warned Ascencio that Mills would attempt to fire him, up to and including falsifying information about his work performance, the suit states.

CCCNews contacted Harrell who gave “no comment” on the allegations.

Thwarted at Waste Water

Ascencio claims he was passed over for promotion on four separate occasions where white workers with less experience and training moved up. That occurred despite Ascencio holding a Commercial Driver’s Licence which was integral to the position, the suit states. 

The complaint states this occurred in the Waste Water Division where previously city employees in that division had called him a “beaner” and stated that he had “just crossed the border.”

Supervision

After Mills became Ascencio’s supervisor in October of 2019, Ascencio was placed on a performance improvement plan or PIP that required Ascencio to meet with Mills once a week for six months, according to the suit.

Ascencio received suggestions for improvement but was not provided information as to how he could improve his allegedly deficient work performance, the suit states. 

His PIP was extended to two months, according to the suit, which was a violation of the employee handbook and collective bargaining agreement, the suit states. 

Two white employees who were hired within the Public Works Department during this same time frame and subjected to the standard six-month probation period did not have their probation period extended for an additional two months, the complaint states.

Mills evaluated Ascencio three times, giving him the same score of 28 of 66 points or falling into the “Below Expectations” standard, according to the complaint. 

The suit claims the PIP was constructed so that it was impossible for Ascencio to succeed no matter what he did.

Mills would issue complimentary and positive verbal feedback on Ascencio’s progress when in person, the suit says. However, when Ascencio would receive the written PIP, it would include low scores and opinions, contrary to the verbal exchanges during his PIP meetings. This tactic was an additional way to gaslight Ascencio into never knowing how or if he could improve his performance, the suit states. 

Ascencio repeatedly complained to the Public Works Director, Human Resources Director and City Manager regard what he felt was a biased process due to his prior interactions with Mills before Mills became his supervisor as well as Mill’s demonstrated racist behavior in the workplace and overall hostile work environment that had not been remedied by the City or Mills, the complaint states.

The City and Mills further legitimized the behavior and encouraged the hostile work environment by failing to adequately interrupt or intervene in the racist behavior perpetrated by Ascencio’s coworkers and supervisors and by responding to Ascencio’s complaints of bias with common racially coded language describing him as hostile, aggressive, or implying he was lazy, the complaint states. 

In his termination, the City noted that Ascencio showed an “unwillingness to improve” his performance, despite the fact that during the PIP, Ascencio improved in four of eleven areas, the suit states. 

The City terminated Ascencio’s employment in Sept. 2020. 

The City in its termination of Ascencio also included two incidences of Ascencio damaging City equipment dating back to Dec. 2018. Those occurred during the time Ascencio received positive evaluations from his supervisor, according to the suit.

The City termination also included two incidents of Ascencio damaging city equipment in 2020, for which he received no additional safety training, despite him being in a PIP, the suit states. 

The City “cherry-picked statements contained within a mostly positive review given by a white administrative assistant who admitted she had no knowledge of his job duties, policies, or procedures,” the complaint states.

“Similarly situated white employees were not forced to be supervised by administrative assistants and have their performance critiqued by non-supervisors. Similarly situated white employees were not terminated based on performance reviews of non-supervisory administrative assistants,” the suit claims.

To read the full complaint click here.