Just news
Tri-Met appeals discrimination case
"A lot of work goes into a trial. It boils down to a question of
your life and your job
BY
ANNDEE
HOCHMAN
discrimination against people with handicaps
also apply to persons with HIV and AIDS.
or Joe Griffin, a former Tri-Met bus
The Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries
dispatcher who won the state’s first
handles civil rights complaints stemming from
AIDS-discrimination case to come to trial, the those laws; plaintiffs also may pursue their
bumpy legal ride isn’t over y e t
claims through civil lawsuits. But until
In January, a Multnomah County Circuit
Griffin’s case, no challenge to that law had
Court jury decided 9-3 that Tri-Met
reached the state’s courts.
discriminated against Griffin after learning in
“iFwas a complex case because there was
1987 that he had tested positive for HIV. The
a whole pattern of harassment and
jury awarded him $500,000, but a law limiting
discriminatory treatment,” said Wilson. “We
the amount of damages that can be won
had to establish that it wasn’t just Joe's
against a public agency reduced that sum to
imagination that he was being picked on.”
$ 100 , 000 .
At first, Griffin said, he was baffled by the
Last month, an attorney for Tri-Met filed
scrutiny he felt from supervisors. “I didn’t
an appeal in the case.
know what was happening to me,” he
“The major grounds are that he did not
recalled. “But if there was anything out o f the
have facts to support his claim,” said
normal routine, I made notes, which meant
Hamden.”He has to prove wrongful
that later I could look back and see a pattern
termination, and my position is that he
of discrimination.”
didn’t.”
Griffin, 44, was fired for the first time in
Janice Wilson, Griffin’s attorney, said she
May 1988, then reinstated to his $31,500-a-
was disappointed that Tri-Met did not accept
year job that November after filing a
the jury’s verdict. “I still think that [Tri-Met]
grievance. In December 1989 he was fired for
thinks they can carry this thing out until he
the second time when he did not return to
dies,” she said. “They’re still saying they
work by a deadline imposed after he had
didn’t do anything wrong. They’re saying it
exhausted his sick time. Griffin said in court
was a “fluke.”
that he felt qualified for an “extraordinary
For Griffin, the jury verdict was the happy
circumstances” exemption to the sick-time
outcome of a two-and-a-half year battle that
limit.
began in lat 1987 when his supervisors
Hamden, the attorney for Tri-Met, disputes
learned that he had tested positive for HIV.
that claim. “My position is that he did not
Griffin, who had worked for Tri-Met since
prove he was term inated.. .but left work and
1976, was then a bus dispatcher who worked
didn’t return.”
mostly with a computerized system to
Griffin said he felt disillusioned by his
coordinate bus repairs, driver changes and
treatment from Tri-Met, the first instance he
other problems on Tri-Met routes.
could recall of discrimination because of his
In the months that followed, according to
homosexuality or health status.
the lawsuit, Griffin’s supervisors watched his
“It makes you feel really left out, after
work more closely than that of other
you’ve worked so long for somebody,” he
dispatchers, tried to cut him off from health
said. “A lot of hard work goes into a trial. I ’d
insurance benefits, tried to change his shift
never want to do it again. But I would if I felt
assignments in a way that conflicted with his
I was being discriminated against because of
medical appointments and, finally, fired him
my HIV status. It boils down to a question of
on December 1, 1989.
your life and your job.”
Oregon and federal laws that prevent
F
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State OKs foster parent status
for lesbian couple
“The social worker asked Dee if this was a gay relationship.
We said yes. She said, That's no problem / ”
BY
ANNDEE
HOCHMAN
our family life,” said Ferguson. “It was scary
to have this big agency decide if we were fit
racy Henson and Dee Ferguson already
parents.” In March, the official certification
knew they could be good parents; they
arrived.
were raising Ferguson’s three teenagers, ages
Ferguson suggested that placement with a
13.15 and 17.
lesbian couple might be a particular benefit
But they were pleasantly surprised last
for their foster daughter, whose mother is also
month when Children’s Services Division
a lesbian. “I wonder how many kids come
agreed, certifying the couple as foster parents
from broken and dysfunctional homosexually
to a 14-year-old girl.
oriented families, and then have a harder time
“W e’d considered it before and thought
after being placed in a heterosexual foster
that because we were a gay couple it would be
home?” she said.
harder,” said Ferguson. “But we found we
Foster parents in Oregon provide care that
could legitimately be foster parents.”
ranges from several days of “safe” housing to
Although the two had considered
longer-term commitments of six months or
becoming foster parents before, the
more. The children placed with them often
circumstances took them by surprise. An
have suffered physical, sexual or emotional
acquaintance who was having a difficult time
abuse; they may be drug-addicted infants,
getting along with her 14-year-old daughter
pregnant teenagers or siblings who need to
brought the youngster to their house eight
stay together.
months ago, unannounced and packed for a
The state especially needs minority foster
long visit.
parents and families willing to take siblings,
Ferguson, 40, and Henson, 27, said they
troubled teens and babies with medical
welcomed the girl to their household; but
problems.
without CSD’s stamp of approval, they could
Ferguson and Henson said that while they
not act as her guardian, sign school forms or
were glad to receive CSD’s endorsement, the
afford her medical care.
real rewards come in their day-to-day
“The social worker [who visited the home]
relationship with their foster daughter.
asked Dee if this was a gay relationship,”
Eventually, they hope, she and her mother
recalled Henson. “We said yes. She said,
will be able to live together.
‘That’s no problem.’”
“She’s changed so much in eight months,”
The couple attended a six-week CSD
Ferguson said. “When she came, she was so
training course mandated for all potential
low; now she’s applying at Benson High
foster parents, installed fire prevention
School. She gets notes from school about her
measures in their home and nervously awaited
im provem ent.. . .The support we get from
the agency’s decision.
CSD is really good. They supply all of your
“We didn’t know if it was going to damage
needs. We just get to watch her grow.”
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just out ▼ 7 Y April 1990