EVERETT — Former Everett City Councilman Ron Gipson is suing Snohomish County, after a separate suit against co-workers at the Denney Juvenile Justice Center.
The suit was brought Jan. 16 in King County Superior Court. Gipson, who is black, claims he suffered racial discrimination during and after a workplace investigation into sexual harassment at Denney, where he works as a juvenile corrections officer.
He spent a year and a half on leave as an outside investigator sorted through allegations of workplace misconduct. The complaints focused on Gipson and numerous co-workers. He denied any wrongdoing, apart from what he characterized as locker-room talk with male employees.
After returning to work in 2015, Gipson lost re-election to the City Council, after 20 years in office.
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Former Everett councilman suing sexual harassment accusersJan 22, 2018
Gipson and his wife are seeking unspecified damages for civil rights violations, invasion of privacy and emotional distress, among other claims. One of Gipson’s complaints involves the way in which the county released the workplace investigative report to The Daily Herald in 2015 in response to a public records request. He maintains the report contained unsubstantiated information about him that should not have been made public.
Gipson filed a similar lawsuit in Snohomish County Superior Court in December, naming four women co-workers at Denney and the attorney the county hired to conduct the workplace investigation.
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