Employee sues MTS, claiming retaliation connected to response to Nathan Fletcher scandal

The fallout from a scandal surrounding disgraced former San Diego County Supervisor Nathan Fletcher's stint at the Metropolitan Transit System continued on Tuesday, when a senior corporate officer of the MTS filed a lawsuit against her employer.

In March of 2023, a second former MTS employee, Grecia Figueroa, filed a suit of her own alleging that Fletcher groped and sexually harassed her while he served on the MTS board, and that had a hand in her self-described "abrupt" firing on Feb. 6, the same day he announced his campaign for state senate. He would later resign from the county board supervisors and withdraw from his senate run.

The suit filed this week on behalf of Emily Outlaw, the MTS's chief information officer, alleges that she was retaliated against after she reported that the agency was, in fact, aware of Figueroa's allegations much earlier than the MTS told the media was the case. In addition, Outlaw said it was she who informed the agency's CEO, Sharon Cooney, that was the situation and that Outlaw also refused a request to furnish the MTS with some communications that Figueroa had made on Jabber, an internal instant messaging app.

It is Outlaw's position that she rapidly went from being an employee who was told in a performance review that she "exceeds job requirements" to one who merely "meets jobs requirements," and whose compensation reward went from an annual raise of 6.5% (when the standard was 3%) to being denied any raise at all. In addition, the suit maintains, Outlaw was put on administrative leave for "false and pretextural reasons."

"As a legal result of the MTS's unlawful retaliation against Outlaw, what had quickly become a stellar career at the MTS has been impaired and she has been wrongfully deprived of significant economic benefits associated with her employment, including a well-earned raise in her salary for 2024 and the opportunity for advancing in her future career with the MTS," Outlaw's suit states.

In a news release issued by the MTS, which had been pressured by local media, including NBC 7, to disclose the events surrounding Figueroa's departure, the agency claimed it and its officers were unaware about her accusations until her suit was filed on March 29 of last year.

Outlaw's suit, however, states that MTS Chief Human Resources officer Jeff Stumbo "actually learned about Figueroa’s claims around Feb. 17, 2023, through an email with an attached letter from Figuerora’s lawyer to him."

Last April, Figueroa's lawyer gave NBC 7 a 13-page document dated Feb. 17, weeks before Figueroa's lawsuit was filed, asking for her employee records and outlining potential legal claims they were considering pursuing. Those claims included sexual harassment and retaliation. The document also includes a list of 17 MTS employees, ranging from members of the communications team to human resources who make up what could be construed as the MTS executive management team, all of whom were being directed to preserve all communications as potential evidence.

The letter was addressed to both Fletcher and Jeff Stumbo, the MTS chief human resources officer. That letter is at the heart of Outlaw's claims. From the suit filed Tuesday:

"Stumbo claimed he did not see the Feb. 17, 2023, email and letter from Figueroa’s lawyer, saying it must have gone to his 'spam folder.' Outlaw and her IT team were tasked by the MTS to investigate the matter to determine if Stumbo’s 'spam folder story' was, in fact, correct. On April 20, 2023, just before a MTS board meeting where the Figueroa lawsuit was to be discussed, Outlaw reported the results of the IT investigation to Cooney in the CEO’s office. Outlaw told her the Feb. 17, 2023, email from Figueroa’s lawyer to Stumbo had gone to his spam folder but that Stumbo had opened and read the email and had forwarded it to the MTS’s outside counsel. Cooney looked stunned and abruptly left her office without any comment, leaving Outlaw alone there."

Outlaw's suit goes on to allege that on April 3, Outlaw "was ordered to have her team retrieve the 'Jabber' one-on-one instant messages between Figueroa and other persons," a task she declined based on Jabber's policy prohibiting just such behavior and that "to retrieve these Jabber messages would have required the IT employees to hack into Figueroa’s private communications."

Outlaw, who was placed on leave from Dec. 8, 2023, to Feb. 13 of this year, is claiming whistleblower status as a result of the actions she said she took on April 20 in her meeting with MTS CEO Cooney and is seeking compensation for a loss of salary and career opportunities, as well as her legal fees associated with the case.

The suit also says that the relationship between Cooney and Outlaw rapidly deteriorated after the April 20 meeting.

"Cooney stopped responding to communications from Outlaw and when the two did interact, Cooney was short, curt, abrasive and rude," the suit claims.

NBC 7 reached out to the MTS for a comment in response to Outlaw's suit and was sent a statement by attorney Nadia P. Bermudez, whose office has been retained as outside counsel for the agency:

"MTS confirms that Ms. Outlaw is still employed with MTS as its chief information officer. MTS provided a detailed response to her claims in the attached 'Rejection of Tort Claim filed by Emily Outlaw dated Feb. 16, 2024' that was sent to her attorney on March 5, 2024. MTS has not been served with the complaint you reference and does not have further comment at this time regarding the litigation."

In the Rejection of Tort Claim, signed by Stumbo, the MTS alleged that Outlaw's role and her team expanded from 2022-23 and Outlaw "struggled" in adapting to her expanded duties: "Her peers and supervisor observed declines in her attendance, responsiveness, focus and industriousness. These issues contributed to her not meeting the expectations of the role." The rejection further maintains a willingness to "work with Ms. Outlaw 'to develop a performance improvement plan that will support her in becoming more reliable and able to manage her team and its portfolio of projects.' "

Insofar as her annual raise, Stumbo stated that Outlaw's performance would be reviewed by Cooney after six months, who would then "recommend an increase at that time — provided that there was sufficient improvement."

Further, Stumbo denies that "short, curt, abrasive and rude" was not an accurate representation of Cooney and Outlaw's interactions after the April 20 meeting. Finally, Stumbo alleged that Outlaw was often allowed to work from home due to circumstances requiring her presence there and that she also worked at home without approval, despite being admonished not to do so.

Interestingly, Stumbo's Rejection of Tort Claim states that a hard copy (in addition to the email in the spam folder) of the Demand for Employment Records and Evidence Preservation sent to the MTS by Figueroa's attorney in February 2023 was received by Stumbo on Feb. 21 of that year, well ahead of Figueroa's filing of her suit.

The lawsuit filed by Outlaw is not the first connected to the Fletcher scandal. A complaint filed in January alleges the county and Fletcher — a county supervisor at the time — retaliated against UC San Diego professor Juli Hinds in April of 2023 after she reported a student's harassment claims against him.