By Deborah Baker
Albuquerque Journal
SANTA FE, N.M. — A former correctional officer and union official at the Penitentiary of New Mexico who was fired after he publicly disclosed a sexual harassment investigation against the warden, is waging a campaign to be reinstated.
Lee Ortega has filed a complaint with the state Public Employee Labor Relations Board, alleging he was terminated for carrying out his union responsibilities to protect state workers from sexual harassment.
His dismissal is also the subject of a petition signed by hundreds of supporters that was to be delivered today to Gov. Susana Martinez’s office.
Ortega, who is the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees’ state president for corrections workers, said Monday that he was fired in mid-June, about a month after penitentiary warden Lawrence Jaramillo was fired for sexual harassment. Three women had complained about inappropriate comments by Jaramillo, who the department said failed a polygraph test.
Ortega said he was told he was fired for providing a confidential report about the Jaramillo investigation to the media in early April.
Ortega said he did so because he had learned Jaramillo was to be transferred, he feared he would harass more workers, and it was clear to him that his complaints to Corrections Secretary Lupe Martinez would not be acted on.
His complaint to the state labor board says his firing was “a vicious effort by the department to quell union dissent and activity.”
Department spokesman Shannon McReynolds said Monday that he could not discuss Ortega’s firing because he still has the right to appeal it under state personnel rules, making it an ongoing personnel issue.
Copyright 2011 Albuquerque Journal