Pair of unnamed Spokane Regional Health District employees suspended following internal investigation

A pair of employees at the Spokane Regional Health District were suspended Wednesday, but the public health agency did not name them.

The unanimous vote by the board of health to put the employees on paid administrative leave comes just months after the removal of former SRHD administrator Alicia Thompson.

In his motion to place the two employees on leave “pending a predetermination meeting,” SRHD board vice chair and Spokane County Commissioner Chris Jordan labeled the employees as the “primary subjects” of a completed investigation report.

That report was conducted by workplace investigations and employment lawyer Aviva Kamm. A copy of the report was not immediately available.

SRHD spokesperson Kelli Hawkins declined to comment on the board of health action or name the employees in question, citing its status as a “personnel issue.”

Reasons behind Thompson’s dismissal were similarly opaque. In her involuntary resignation letter Thompson cited “performance concerns expressed by the Board of Health.”

It is unclear how long the two employees will be placed on leave or when the “predetermination meeting” will take place.