Former state employee charges sexual, racial harassment

Here’s a news item from the Associated Press: BOISE, Idaho (AP) — A former employee at the Idaho State Controller’s Office says she was sexually and racially harassed by a supervisor and that State Controller Brandon Woolf allowed the harassment to continue. In a tort claim filed Monday, the former employee says the agency’s former chief of staff, Dan Goicoechea, engaged in abusive language and violent acts in conversations involving her and other individuals. The tort claim is a precursor to a lawsuit. The Idaho Statesman reports (http://bit.ly/2fbTYdG) that Goicoechea resigned earlier this year to become deputy for governmental affairs for the Idaho State Department of Education. He resigned from that post on Monday. Officials at the state controller’s office say a statement will be released later Wednesday.

UPDATE: Here is the tort claim , and here is the statement from the controller’s office:

Date: 09-20-17
Time: 4:30pm

In response to the recent Tort Claim filed with the Secretary of State this week:

The Office of the State Controller (SCO) denies the allegations in the tort claim filing, and specifically denies any allegations that it “condoned” harassment in any way, and will defend against those allegations vigorously.

Controller Woolf has respectful workplace and anti-discriminatory harassment policies in place, including mechanisms for reporting any alleged harassment, allegations will be promptly investigated, and any necessary remedial action will be taken.

Ms. Matsumoto first made a complaint of harassment to management about Mr. Goicoechea on July 14, 2017.  Prior to this date, Ms. Matsumoto did not make her supervisor or management aware of any harassment, nor did she make any formal or informal complaints about Mr. Goicoechea.  Once the complaint was made, SCO acted promptly by retaining a private law firm to conduct an investigation into her allegations.  This was done to keep the fact finding process independent and unbiased for all parties.  Upon the conclusion of SCO’s internal investigation, SCO took effective remedial action.  SCO then separated Mr. Goicoechea’s employment with SCO.

During the course of conducting its investigation and attempts to remediate Ms. Matsumoto’s allegations, she resigned her employment at SCO and refused to participate in SCO’s investigation.  The State Controller’s Office complied fully with its legal responsibilities as an employer in this situation and responded promptly to Ms. Matsumoto’s complaint.

The State Controller acted honorably and took reasonable steps to prevent and correct any alleged harassment claimed by Ms. Matsumoto.

Statement by the Office of the State Controller

Thank you,

Joshua C Whitworth
Deputy Controller Chief of Staf
Office of the Idaho State Controller Brandon Woolf