Former County Employee Says Supervisors Illegally Tried to Block Him from Top Jobs

A former county employee says a supervisor illegally discriminated against him when he sought the county’s top unelected job, and that another retaliated against him for not agreeing to an illegal deal he says he was offered.

In a lawsuit he filed with the county last week, Michael Vu accused supervisors Nora Vargas and Terra Lawson-Remer of separately trying to interfere with his search for the chief administrative officer position.

Vu served as the county’s registrar of voters for nearly a decade before being promoted in 2021 to deputy chief administrative officer.

His allegations come after a long and contentious hiring process concluded earlier this year with the appointment of longtime county finance officer Ebony Shelton to the position.

Vu says the county Board of Supervisors ignored him, even though a succession plan called for him to replace his boss Helen Robbins-Meyer, who was retiring after more than a decade in the role.

Vu alleges that Vargas, then the board’s vice chair, told Robbins-Meyer in late 2022 or early 2023, following her retirement announcement, that she did not support Vu for the position because of her race.

He says Vargas told Robbins-Meyer, “We need a person of color,” to which Robbins-Meyer responded that Vu, who is Asian, was one of them.

According to his statement, Vargas responded: “That doesn’t count, they have opportunities and education. We need a Hispanic or black person.”

“Helen Robbins-Meyer was stunned, shocked and upset by this statement,” Vu’s attorney, Chip Edleson, wrote in the filing.

The county’s recruitment of a new CAO was complicated soon after it began, when Fletcher resigned in the face of allegations of sexual misconduct and Vargas subsequently became chairman of the Board of Supervisors in the spring of 2023.

At the time, supervisors had recently made a Santa Clara County supervisor a conditional job offer. But they withdrew him and decided to resume the search as soon as Fletcher’s successor was in power.

Chávez later ran again and his withdrawal from consideration provoked a torrent of criticism from local unions.

According to Vu’s claim, after Vargas became president, Robbins-Meyer spoke with her, and the supervisor again refused to support him.

Later that year, Vu alleges that Lawson-Remer also tried to intervene in the hiring process, proposing what he calls “quid pro quo” agreements with him and Robbins-Meyer.

He alleges in his complaint that Lawson-Remer offered in a private phone call, in violation of the Brown Act, to agree to support Vu for acting CAO “if he agreed to make Paul Worlie the assistant CAO.”

Worlie had previously been Fletcher’s chief of staff and would be among the candidates considered for CAO. After Fletcher resigned, Worlie took an administrative job with the county, La Prensa reported at the moment; according to Transparent California, he was the county’s director of departmental operations last year.

Vu says in his plea that Lawson-Remer and Worlie sought the settlement on multiple occasions, approaching him and Robbins-Meyer.

He included in his complaint an email he said Robbins-Meyer sent to County Counsel Claudia Silva detailing a phone call she said she received from Lawson-Remer about the matter.

Vu says that after he and Robbins-Meyer rejected the offer, Lawson-Remer retaliated against him by refusing to appoint him.

Robbins-Meyer’s deputy, Sarah Aghassi, took over temporarily in January as interim CAO until supervisors could hire a permanent successor. She did not apply for the permanent job.

In a statement, Lawson-Remer denied Vu’s allegations, adding, “this is not the first disgruntled employee who has taken legal action when not hired for a job.”

“I stand by my vote for Sarah Aghassi to serve as interim chief administrative officer and Ebony Shelton to serve as permanent chief administrative officer,” she added.

Vargas also denied the allegations and said he welcomed a full investigation.

“I unequivocally deny making any statement that promotes or condones discrimination based on race, ethnicity or national origin,” Vargas said in a statement, adding that she was “proud that our board unanimously agreed to an exhaustive process to select the new county CAO.” which included community input and resulted in the selection of our current CAO.”

“The allegations made against me are not only false, but they completely contradict my values and record of public service,” she said.

The county declined to comment due to possible litigation. Neither Robbins-Meyer, Worlie, nor Vu immediately responded to requests for comment.

This is not the first allegation of anti-Asian racism that Vargas’ office has faced since she became president.

A former employee says in a lawsuit filed late last year that her office wrongfully fired him due to racial discrimination after her former chief of staff, Denice Garcia, called him anti-Asian slurs and said Vargas was aware.

The county called these allegations “absolutely false.” The case remains pending.

Originally published: October 12, 2024 at 5:00 am