What Did MTS Officials Know About Fletcher Lawsuit and When Did They Know It?

On Thursday, San Diego's Metropolitan Transit Board met for the first time since a lawsuit was filed against the organization by a former MTS employee alleging sexual harassment, assault and retaliation.

Grecia Figueroa filed the lawsuit against both MTS and the then-chair of the MTS board Nathan Fletcher. alleging Fletcher sexually harassed and assaulted her before she was wrongfully terminated on the same day Fletcher announced his state senate campaign. Fletcher has since resigned as the chair of the MTS board, ended his state senate campaign and announced his resignation from the San Diego County Board of Supervisors effective May 15. after he completes an in-patient treatment for alcohol abuse, trauma and PTSD.

How Much Did San Diego Pay While Nathan Fletcher Allegedly Preyed on Staff?

Fletcher also admitted to what he described as "consensual interactions" with Figueroa.

MTS board members met in closed session for more than two hours on Thursday. Afterward, acting chair and San Diego City Councilmember Stephen Whitburn said the board had decided to hire outside counsel to conduct an independent investigation as to what happened regarding Figueroa's allegations and termination. Whitburn said the findings of that investigation would be made public. He also said that they instructed counsel to reject any request to indemnify or defend Nathan Fletcher because they believe he didn't act in the best interest of MTS.

New questions are being raised about what the MTS board knew and when after Figueroa's lawyer gave NBC 7 a 13-page document dated Feb.17 (see below), weeks before the 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 that 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.

NBC 7 asked Whitburn about the document and why MTS is maintaining that it knew nothing about the allegations from Figueroa if the MTS received the document from her lawyer more than a month before the lawsuit was filed.

"I would say that the board did not know until the lawsuit was filed about the allegations that were in the lawsuit," Whitburn said in response.

Fletcher Resignation: What Are Next Steps for County Supervisors and How Much Will It Cost?

Whitburn was careful not to "characterize" his feelings about the allegations. However, San Diego City Council President Sean Elo-Rivera, also an MTS board member said: "Based on what's in there, there are allegations that while we were here doing our business, that completely unacceptable things were happening, and that’s incredibly enraging and disappointing and all of those things."

The MTS Board will meet again on April 20, at which time it will vote on who will be the permanent chair of the board to replace Fletcher.

Second Woman Accuses Nathan Fletcher of Improper Behavior

Did Nobody Tell MTS General Counsel About Demand for Employment Records from Figueroa's Lawyer?

One name in the letter Figueroa's attorney sent to the MTS stands out.

Karen Landers is the general counsel for the San Diego Metropolitan Transit System. On March 30, two days after Zachary S. Schumacher, Figueroa's attorney, filed the suit naming Fletcher and the MTS as defendants, Landers sent out a statement on behalf of the MTS, cc'ing Mark Olson and Stacie Bishop. According to Bishop's LinkedIn profile, she is the MTS's manager of marketing and communications, while Olson's profile on the social-media site lists him as the MTS's director of marketing & communications.

Often in such situations, publicists or attorneys tell the media that an individual or organization that they represent does not comment on pending litigation or personnel issues. Neither of these was the case in the email Landers sent out on March 30, in which she said, in part:

"None of the decision makers involved in this personnel decision were aware of the allegations about Nathan Fletcher until after the decision to terminate Ms. Figueroa’s employment was communicated to her.  Neither Mr. Fletcher nor any other MTS Board Member was aware of or involved in the decision to terminate Ms. Figueroa.  The filing of Ms. Figueroa’s lawsuit on March 28, 2023 was the first time that MTS executive management was provided with the specific details of Ms. Figueroa’s allegations."

The letter Schumacher sent out was addressed to both Fletcher and Jeff Stumbo, the MTS chief human resources officer, who is presumably a member of the MTS executive management team. Contained within the letter is that list of 17 employees, all of whose communications the MTS was warned not to destroy.

Also named in the list was Landers, the general counsel of the MTS, and, presumably, a member of MTS executive management, someone whom it would be logical to assume had been informed about the MTS being named as a defendant in a lawsuit.

Olson and Bishop were also cc'd in the email Landers sent out on March 30. And they were both named as well by Schumacher in the letter he sent to the MTS on Feb. 17.

All three, too, could easily be described as members of the MTS executive management team.