NEWS
BY CAMILLA MORTENSEN
REGISTER-GUARD
PLACES EMPLOYEES ON
ADMINISTRATIVE LEAVE
AFTER LAWSUIT
I
n the wake of reporter Serena Markstrom Nugent’s civil lawsuit against The Register-
Guard for firing her after she checked emails while on pregnancy disability leave, it ap-
pears that the R-G is considering cutting some employees that were involved in the case.
EW was told by several credible sources that Eugene Newspaper Guild union co-
president Randi Bjornstad and programmers Joe Clark and Horst Lueck, both in infor-
mation systems, have been placed on administrative leave.
Bjornstad in her position as union president supported Markstrom Nugent and gave her
advice on deleting emails and other issues and testified during the trial.
A jury heard arguments in Lane County Circuit Court for six days starting Aug. 23;
however, Judge Josephine Mooney dismissed the case on Aug. 31 based on Markstrom
Nugent having deleted emails, which Mooney called destruction of evidence, also known
as spoilation.
According to court documents, when Markstrom Nugent was unable to access her email
from home while on leave, Clark reset her username and password. In her email to Clark,
Markstrom Nugent said she wanted to save emails for “personal reflection” on her career.
Also in the court documents,
Markstrom Nugent refers to getting
advice from Lueck on exporting her
email account.
Markstrom Nugent, a longtime
R-G entertainment writer, was sud-
denly switched to a hard news beat in
2012. In previous interviews she told
EW that three weeks after announc-
ing she was pregnant, she was told
she needed coaching on her writing.
The R-G then set up a performance
improvement plan, a tactic that has
been used by other news agencies to try to get rid of older, higher-paid journalists.
In the newspaper’s first story on the trial, it misspelled the judge’s name as Moody. The
error has since been fixed online.
Markstrom Nugent filed a lawsuit in August 2015 and, according to her complaint,
editor Ilene Aleshire told Markstrom that she could not “do any work, including checking
emails and voicemails,” while she was on disability leave. However, Markstrom’s com-
plaint says she understood this to mean that she could not work — which might include
checking work-related emails and voicemails. “She did not understand this to be a total
prohibition against accessing her email account for personal matters.”
Markstrom Nugent was seeking $125,000 in non-economic losses as well as back pay
from the day she was fired, March 24, 2014, until Aug. 23.
If employees are fired, this won’t be the first time the R-G has severed relationships with
those who supported Markstrom Nugent. When she was fired, former R-G arts writer Bob
Keefer rounded up support for a well-wishing for the pregnant journalist. Keefer, who now
runs a popular art blog, Eugene Art Talk, was freelancing for the R-G. He was told, “We
won’t be needing your freelance services anymore.”
Wendy Baker, the R-G’s human resources director and an attorney, told the paper that
“some will say the case was dismissed on a technicality.”
EW asked Baker for comment and confirmation on Bjornstad, Lueck and Clark’s admin-
istrative leave as well as comment on the lawsuit. She declined to comment.
Three weeks after
announcing she was preg-
nant, Markstrom Nugent
was told she needed
coaching on her writing.
• We’ll bend a knee with Colin Kaepernick, the San Francisco 49ers quarterback
stirring up the conservative sports world with his visual statement against racism in
America. He’s kneeling, not standing for the “Star Spangled Banner” and taking
frightening flak for it. Bravo to his coach Chip Kelly, well known to Eugeneans, who
affirmed free speech in America, as did President Obama and some other sports stars
like Megan Rapinoe, the great soccer player. Makes no sense, but we were pleased to
see the 49ers win last Thursday.
• The news out of Standing Rock in Cannon Ball, North Dakota, is infuriating as tribal
members try to prevent the constructions of a massive oil pipeline that, if built, would
carry a half-million barrels of crude oil across the tribe’s treaty lands daily. According to
a recent media update from the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, on Saturday, Sept. 3, “Dakota
Access Pipeline and Energy Transfer Partners brazenly used bulldozers to destroy our
burial sites, prayer sites and culturally significant artifacts.” Tribal Chairman David
Archambault II says, “They did this on a holiday weekend, one day after we filed court
papers identifying these sacred sites. The desecration of these ancient places has
already caused the Standing Rock Sioux irreparable harm. We’re asking the court to halt
this path of destruction.” Events over the weekend also involved protesters being bitten
by private security dogs. The good news is that thousands of people from more than 200
native tribes have joined the Standing Rock Sioux’s efforts to protect their lands, waters
and sacred sites from harm during construction of the 1,200-mile pipeline.
• If you don’t like either Hillary or Donald and are casting about for another box to
check, be sure to read our interview of Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson this week. No
way we can vote for anybody who seriously says that the free market will take care of
climate change. A vote for Johnson is a vote for Trump, the idiot who denies climate
change. That means we must follow Bernie Sanders’ lead and vote for Hillary.
• Talk about burning issues in the Weekly! A local gentleman recently came to our
front desk to inquire about the newsprint and ink used to print the paper. He was using
this free tabloid to start his barbecue and the food didn’t taste right. We’ll investigate, of
course.
• We’re giving three sarcastic cheers for the geniuses who knocked over Cape
Kiwanda’s iconic sandstone pedestal. Seriously? The vandals were caught on video
shoving the Oregon coast rock formation until it collapsed. As we celebrate the 100th
anniversary of the National Park Service, it’s disheartening to witness such blatant
instances of disregard for our natural landscapes at one of our state parks. We’re
reminded of Casey Nocket, the woman who painted garish graffiti on rocks in national
parks across the country, including Crater Lake. Destroying nature is a pretty permanent
form of vandalism: Once it’s gone, you can never get it back.
traveling soon?
CLUB
telemedical advice
for global travelers
100 YEARS
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 9TH $5
10 PM TROUBLE CUTS, HOT FOR CHOCOLATE, COYOTE
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 10TH $5
10 PM ARCHITEX: SECOND NATURE PRESENTS:
COUNT BASS D, L.I.F.E, DUSTED TEMPLE AND BKA IZ
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 11TH $5
10 PM BROADWAY REVUE BURLESQUE SHOW
933 Olive St | 541-687-4643
830 Olive St | 541-343-3204
luckeysclub.com • In the heart of the Barmuda Triangle
www.TravelClinicOregon.com
eugeneweekly.com • September 8, 2016
13