City Light report rebuts 'blatant sexism,' though some disagree

• Forty-two employees at City Light signed a petition last year claiming there was "blatant sexism" in their division and demanding increased training around sexism.
• A year later, a report commissioned by City Light has found insufficient evidence for those allegations.
• Some city employees who have demanded that the city tackle sexual harassment say the report could prevent people from reporting issues to management.

City Light hired an investigator in October 2017 to investigate the allegations contained in the petition. While the investigator said she did not find evidence of a hostile work environment, the department did cite an employee for violating the company's policy of mutual respect.

In a table summarizing interviews with employees who signed the petition, the investigator noted that:

• Ten of the 42 employees who signed the petition reported this employee calling them "babe" or "sweetheart" or something similar.
• Two employees reported unwelcome sexual conduct.
• Three reported "disparate treatment impacting job opportunity or performance" or "other conduct that made them uncomfortable."
• Twenty-five employees who signed the petition told the investigator that they had not personally experienced or witnessed inappropriate sexual conduct or disparate treatment based on sex or gender.

The investigator further noted that four employees in the division had concerns about one employee communicating with The Stranger and the Seattle Women's Commission about the petition. That same employee resigned from her job at City Light this past January.

Editor's note: The story noted in the report was written by Sydney Brownstone, a former Stranger reporter who now works at KUOW.

"The investigator found insufficient evidence to find a culture of 'blatant sexism' in the CES division as alleged in the Petition," investigator Celeste Monroe wrote.

"As the chart(s) in Section VI(A) reveals, the majority of those individuals who signed the petition did not experience or observe acts constituting sexism (either in opportunities/performance or sexual harassment)," she continued. "Rather, most of the signors said they signed the Petition in support of those who might be enduring such treatment and/or in support of additional training for the department."

But a group of city employees calling themselves the Seattle Silence Breakers disagreed with the report's conclusion.

"When you have one bad person that management does not respond to, you have created an acceptable culture of sexism, of racism, of mistreatment of people," the Silence Breakers' Doreen McGrath said.

“I think a lot of women will be intimidated by that report and never, ever want to report anything to management ever again because they’ll get a report that blames them," McGrath added.

City Light CEO Debra Smith said that the department would continue working with Mayor Jenny Durkan to strengthen the workplace.

"We can and we will do better," Smith said in a statement. "I am committed to making Seattle City Light a great place to work and will continue talking with folks both inside and outside City Light to surface issues and develop collaborative solutions.”