Former city workers file termination lawsuit case
Three former employees of the City of Vallejo have officially filed a “whistleblower” lawsuit against both the city and City Manager Greg Nyhoff for wrongful termination, harassment, and defamation.
Will Morat, who was assistant to the city manager for economic development; Joanna Altman, assistant to the city manager for communications and special projects, and Slater Matzke, special advisor to the city manager, are asking for $3.8 million in damages.
All three worked closely with City Manager Nyhoff and were let go on April 23 of last year after they say that they reported serious issues with Nyhoff, including accusations of corruption, graft, and his handling of sexual and racial harassment, among other things.
City Attorney Veronica Nebb told the Times-Herald that it is not policy to comment on litigation that involves “personnel matters.”
“(What) I can share with you is that in the state of California, at-will employees may be separated from service by any public or private employer at any time, with or without cause,” she said.
Nebb also said that her office had yet to receive any notice of the suit, though the plaintiff’s law firm — Gwilliam, Ivary, Chiosso, Cavalli & Brewer — said that it filed with the Fairfield court on Feb. 9 and have been told that it should appear on the docket “any time now.”
Also mentioned in the suit are Chief Assistant City Attorney Randy Reisner, Assistant City Manager Anne Cardwell, and Director of Human Resources Heather Ruiz.
The crux of the plaintiffs’ argument is that they claim they were all encouraged to be as honest as possible about Mr. Nyhoff to an outside investigator evaluating his performance, but
that when they were, they were terminated.
According to their claim, they say they were actually required to be forthcoming or they could lose their jobs.
Outside counsel Christopher Boucher was in charge of appointing the independent investigator into Nyhoff’s alleged conduct. He has claimed that none of the names of those interviewed, nor their feedback, was given to Nyhoff. Boucher does admit that he himself recommended firing all three of them, telling Channel 7 News it was for “bona fide, independent reasons that were unrelated.”
Much of the criticism of Nyhoff comes from Morat and Matzke, who say that the city manager behaved underhandedly by going solo on negotiations with the Nimitz Group over its property and plans on Mare Island.
“Our clients rightfully exposed public corruption after learning that Vallejo City Manager Nyhoff had been working secretly with the Nimitz Group to undermine the city’s negotiations
for development on public land,” said attorney Gary Gwilliam in a released statement.
Mayor Robert McConnell has said publicly that Nyhoff did not break any specific protocol by speaking or planning with Nimitz but that he should have been more forthcoming and transparent during the process.
Morat disagrees, arguing that his “fears were compounded” about Nyhoff after he discovered that the city manager allegedly had flown to see developers in Tennessee without informing anyone. His worry, he said, is that the negotiations being made with developers will benefit them and not the city.
“The new December 2020
term sheet completely gutted the City’s position,” he said in a statement. “It is exactly what we tried to warn City Council about but were thwarted by City Manager Nyhoff’s interference in the investigation.”
The City claims that a term sheet is a non-binding document to be used as a jumping-off point and that the final say for everything
involving any Mare Island deals lies with the city council, not Nyhoff.
The city council has consistently put on a unified front in support of Nyhoff despite considerable pushback and even investigations into his performance. Mayor McConnell, without speaking about Nyhoff in particular, said that any city employee they hire and oversee is afforded the same privacy as any other employee. Therefore opinions about performance or discussion of such things will always be done behind closed doors. So even if council members disagree about an employee, none of that will reach the public.
A new whistleblower law went into effect in January and could greatly increase any price tag the city might face in this lawsuit if the plaintiffs prevail. The new law awards attorney fees in cases involving retaliation. With the average contingency fee being between 20 and 40 percent, that could mean between $750,000 to $1.52 million in addition to the $3.8 million.