Fired hospital manager sues over sex-harassment probe

By Jonathan Martin
Seattle Times staff reporter

	Barrette Green
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The Western State Hospital manager fired for a decade of alleged sexual harassment of co-workers is suing the state, claiming he was the victim of a racially charged witch hunt that led to his ouster.

Barrette Green's lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Tacoma, targets his former bosses and names three women whose complaints of coerced sex and unwanted touching led to the end of his 15-year hospital career last month.

In addition to the lawsuit, the women have a new set of worries. After being named as accusers in Green's termination letter, one woman last week reported finding a mutilated rabbit on her porch, and another woman told police she received a phone call at home from a man threatening to come there and "smash things."

A third woman — who was not named in the termination letter but who had complained about Green — reported finding trash strewn across her yard last month and receiving an anonymous phone call at work from a man who said, "garbage in, garbage out."

In a letter sent to Pierce County police departments Monday, state Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) Secretary Dennis Braddock asked for help investigating the incidents, which "do not appear to be random or coincidental."

Braddock noted several other female hospital employees previously reported harassing or threatening phone calls at home after complaining about Green.

"We are not trying to imply that (Green) is responsible for these acts, but we do think a full investigation is necessary, if for no other reason than to prevent any further harassment," Braddock wrote.

Green, 41, declined to comment when contacted at his home near Olympia.

His attorney, Curman Sebree, of Seattle, said Green was not involved with the alleged retaliation. "He doesn't have to resort to that level."

Green, the former leader of Western State Hospital's largest union, was thrust into the public spotlight in February, when he was portrayed in a co-worker's lawsuit as a serial sexual harasser who was seemingly protected from serious discipline by ineffectual hospital managers.

The trial ended with the state agreeing to pay therapist Kathleen Lizee $896,000. After the trial, the DSHS put Green on paid home leave and hired a private consultant to evaluate the claims against him by at least a dozen women. That probe was the basis for Green's firing, but it also uncovered other allegations of theft and patient abuse at the 900-patient hospital. A subsequent investigation into those charges continues.

Green's lawsuit, filed late last month, accuses the DSHS of zealously investigating his personal life to justify firing him. The suit claims that he is the only hospital employee ever fired or disciplined for workplace relationships, which he described as consensual. Green is seeking unspecified monetary damages and an end to what he called discriminatory practices by the DSHS.

The lawsuit claimed that Green, who is black, was treated more harshly than other "white male employees who have engaged in similar and more egregious workplace behavior."

Sebree said Green has purposely kept a low profile since his firing Nov. 24 to avoid accusations of orchestrating retaliation. "He's taken extreme caution of even the perception of doing something" that could be seen as retaliatory, Sebree said.

Darrell Cochran, a Tacoma attorney who represents two of the women named in Green's termination letter, said the recent incidents show that "rogue behavior is rampant at Western State."

The woman who received the threatening phone call is "terrified there is an equivalent of a Mafia organization that operates out of Western State Hospital, and she's going to be victimized by it," said Cochran.

According to the Pierce County Sheriff's Office, two of the three women named in Braddock's letter have filed police reports. One of the reports, filed Nov. 17 with the Steilacoom Police Department, describes a threatening call that appeared to have originated in a state office. According to the report, the caller said, "We have walked up to your house, and now they are coming to smash things."

Steilacoom Police Chief Bob Drozynkski said he hopes to pair up with the Washington State Patrol, which investigates criminal complaints against state employees, to investigate the phone call.

"We understand Washington State Patrol is looking at the big picture and looking for cooperation from us and the other law-enforcement agencies" near Western State, he said. "We're looking at how it ties in with everything else."

Lizee, the therapist whose lawsuit led to Green's firing, said Western State Hospital needs to do all it can to protect the women. Lizee said her home was broken into twice after she filed the lawsuit. "Living with that kind of fear and uncertainty is a horrible way to live," she said. "You no longer feel secure."

Jonathan Martin: 206-464-2605 or jmartin@seattletimes.com

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