State Hopes to Complete City Hall Harassment Investigation Within Six Months

Mayor Charlie Hales and chief of staff Gail Shibley in January 2013

Portland Mayor Charlie Hales is dealing with the latest allegation of misconduct by his staff—a civil rights complaint by a mayoral aide charging that chief of staff Gail Shibley discriminated against him for being HIV-positive. The mayor says he won't comment until a state investigation is finished.

Hales is going to have to wait.

The Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries, which investigates workplace complaints, is hoping to complete its investigation into the complaint against Shibley within six months, says agency spokesman Charlie Burr.

"We will be conducting a BOLI investigation," Burr tells WW. "Yes, it has begun. We have an investigator assigned."

The state investigator has one year to examine the civil rights complaint, Burr said, but that the case probably won't take that long. "I think it's reasonably likely to be completed within six months," he says.

WW first reported Tuesday that a mayoral staffer filed a Jan. 14 complaint saying Shibley pressured him into revealing that he is HIV-positive and then verbally harassed him because of his illness. The complaint says Shibley called him a "skank" and said his previous boss, former Mayor Sam Adams, was also a "skank."

Shibley has said the allegations are "groundless." The staffer has declined to talk to WW.

Burr says BOLI will attempt to interview both the staffer and Shibley, and look for documents independently verifying what happened.

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