OXNARD : Ousted City Official Claims Harassment

An Oxnard public utilities employee who filed a racial discrimination complaint after being passed over for a promotion and then demoted has now filed a harassment complaint against Oxnard City Manager Tom Frutchey.

Benjamen Wong, former public utilities director, sent the 71-page complaint last week to the five Oxnard council members and the city Personnel Department.

“By putting this together, the City Council will have better information on what is going on,” Wong said. “I am hoping they can intervene and a resolution can be reached as amicably as possible. This is affecting my work and my health also.”

Bruce Dandy, the city’s personnel and employee relations manager, said the city will investigate and respond to Wong’s complaint.

Wong, whose position will be dissolved in a long-planned downsizing of city services, was told in January that he was not in the running for one of two new management jobs created to oversee the city’s public services. In June, he was demoted to a job with lower pay in the same office. The city also suspended him for several days.

The local Filipino American Council has also complained publicly to Frutchey and to the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People that Wong was not among the four finalists for the new jobs.

Wong, who is of Filipino ancestry, filed a complaint in April with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, alleging discrimination based on race, age and national origin.

In June, Wong also appealed his June 6 suspension and demotion. A city personnel hearing has not yet been scheduled.

Wong, a 20-year city employee, said he is waiting for council members to respond to his July 10 harassment complaint against Frutchey. “I am hoping to get some kind of meeting with them individually,” he said. “If the City Council won’t look into this matter, then I’ll have to resort to some other means.”