City Employees In Portland Subjected To Hazing, Racism, Violence, Humiliation At Work: Report

City employees in Portland, Oregon were reportedly subjected to hazing in the workplace that included anything from being bound with duct tape to being shot with food from an air compressor gun. Employees at the Portland Bureau of Transportation’s maintenance facility were essentially terrorized, a nine-page report from January obtained by local newspaper Willamette Week said.

And when city officials learned of the situation, they merely transferred the group’s “ringleader” and fired one of the whistleblowers, Williamette Week reported Wednesday.

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The report contained the contents of interviews with nine maintenance employees who discussed the climate of violence and racism at a workplace that “punished snitching.” The investigation’s was primarily centered around Jerry Munson, a long-time city worker who served as the crew leader in a specific branch of the maintenance team known as the “liner crew.”

Employees said Munson routinely made homophobic comments and allowed a sign to be altered from “DISTRICT 2” to “RICT 2,” which one worker said was a reference to white supremacy and Hitler’s Third Reich. One portion of the report said supervisors on the job bound an employee with duct tape, locked him a room complete immobilized and sent pictures of the event to other city employees. Willamette Week was able to obtain a photo of the incident to confirm it.

One employee, named Hayden Rich, said Munson “shot him numerous times over multiple areas of his body with an air compressor gun” during his very first day on the job.

“He said he was shot with BBs, popcorn kernels and hard candies,” the report stated. “The airgun shots were painful and they left welts and bruises.”

Rich also said Munson and another veteran worker, named Matt Hoyt, ganged up to force him to clean up French fries, according to Willamette Week.

“Pick them up, bitch,” Hoyt told Rich, also during his first day on the job.

“Wow, you’re a bitch for life, now,” Munson said after Rich cleaned the mess.

The official who interviewed the employees in the report, Scott Wojcicki, recommended that Munson be fired over the allegations that emerged. In the report, Wojcicki said in response to the allegations, Munson first denied them before admitting to the actions.

“Your coworkers have been attacked and bullied by you,” Wojcicki said in the report, according to Willamette Week. He recommended that Munson be terminated from his position for “physical violence, discourteous treatment and bullying of co-workers, violating safety rules, inappropriate use of city resources and dishonesty.”

Munson, however, was never fired. Instead, he was demoted and moved to a different unit within the company. One of the men who was part of the investigation into Munson, on the other hand, was fired.

“I believe this was in retaliation for participating in the investigation,” said Russ Wilkinson, in a complaint filed in March with the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries. Wilkinson said in the report the fact that Munson wasn’t fired could have something to do with the fact that Munson’s brother, Lee Munson, was the acting director of the Bureau of Maintenance.

The Portland Bureau of Transportation defended the actions it took regarding the investigation to Willamette Week.

“We did take appropriate action to address this situation,” said spokesman John Brady in a statement to the paper. “Employee safety is of paramount concern to us and we are taking steps to address the issues of hazing and bullying raised by this incident.”