The board of directors of the Metropolitan Water of Southern California voted to decide to appoint the new top manager and conducted a seven -month investigation of discriminatory allegations. The accusations exposed the deep division of the largest urban water suppliers in California.
MWD’s new leader will be Deven Upadhyay, who has always served as temporary general manager.
The members of the board of directors announced the decision after holding the third closed -door meeting and discussed the survey results of HAGEKHALIL allegations. The board of directors told Hachy California that he had to accept an offer before 4 pm, which will end his term as the general manager.
The completed survey results have not been made public. The details of the proposal and reconciliation were not disclosed immediately.
Harghall’s lawyer Kerry Garvis Wright said he would reject the proposal.
Garvis Writt said in an email: “This decision is just a political power that clear the road for the city’s return to old and outdated water policies.” “In the past week Among them, Mr. HAGEKHALIL proposed to solve his legal requirements for MWD, but now there is no choice, and he can only seek all his legal choices to protect his rights and reputation. “
HAGEKHALIL was asked to leave in June to cope with the charges of Katano Kasaine, chief financial officer of the agency. The latter accused him of gender discrimination, accused him of harassing, degraded and interrupted her, and created a hostile working environment. Hagharrle denied the allegations and said he had nothing wrong.
Kasaine criticized MWD’s processing of this process in the public occasion of Wednesday, saying that the board of directors “choose to reward Mr. HAGEKHALIL, although there are clear illegal behaviors.”
When Kasaine’s complaint against the board was leaked to the media in June, some accusations of Hagekhalil were broadcast publicly.
Kasaine’s lawyer, Dawn Collins, told the board that her confidential disclosure of her complaint caused her to become the goal of “bullying and public review, whether in occupation and individuals to cause her seriously to her damage”. Collins urged MWD to take action transparently and “released an investigation report.”
Collins said at least one complaint from Casane has been investigated and confirmed that Harch Harril “treats her not as good as a male colleague.”
Garvis Wright said his client did not perform any improper behavior and investigated “the working environment that did not confirm the so -called retaliation, harassment or hostility.”
HAGEKHALIL is the first general manager of the United States in the region. His lawyers and supporters said they were worried that anti -Arab emotions between members of the board of directors may affect the investigation.
When HAGEKHALIL took a vacation, a board member John Morris was condemned by MWD’s board of directors for racist comments on another regional employee. Officials from the agency said the case did not directly involve Hagaharle. Nevertheless, MWD Board prohibits Morris from participating in the review and voting for Higharil investigations.
Garvis Writt said: “The board of directors voted to decide to terminate his contract. This is the continuation of racists, discriminatory and retaliatory treatment.” People are organized to oppose him and vote for the public speech and actions of members of the board of directors. “
Metropolitan water areas provide water to the entire Southern California cities and institutions. As a senior manager in the region, HAGEKHALIL played a core role in changing the agency and transferring its water supply combination to help South California adapt to the intensive drought of climate change.
“Sir. HAGEKHALIL was hired to reform MWD. He achieved significant achievements to guide the agency to spend historic drought conditions and get excellent performance evaluation every year.” Garvis Wright said. “However, changes are by no means easy. Some people regard changes as a threat and put forward some unfounded claims to him.”
This is a development story that will be updated.
