A pink-haired DEI trainer has slammed Oregon's forestry department for hiring on the basic of merit rather than identity.
Megan Donecker filed a complaint about her former boss Mike Shaw and moaned about him telling her that he sought the 'candidates most qualified for the job.'
DEI advocates like Donecker say hiring should be done through an 'intersectional lens' whereby applications from people of marginalized backgrounds are given greater weight.
Shaw, who earns $192,000-a-year as deputy head of Oregon's Department of Forestry, has been put on leave over Donecker's complaint.
Donecker, who worked as the department's Diversity, Equity and Inclusion chief claimed six queer staffers didn't 'feel safe or comfortable' at work because they could not have 'conversation around pronouns.'
The tattooed Salem resident describes herself as an 'accomplice to marginalized communities.' Her complaint is one of several from employees and others that the department amounts to an 'old boys' club.'
Since standing down from her role at the forestry department, she's continued working as a DEI consultant.
The files were released as part of a public records request by OregonLive. State forestry chiefs say they take the complaints seriously and are investigating whether anybody has faced discrimination.
Oregon's progressive Governor Tina Kotek - who was hit by a corruption scandal for hiring her wife - has also waded into the drama, with her office saying she backs all efforts to 'advance DEI.'
Oregon has been roiled by culture wars between progressives in such liberal cities as Portland, and conservatives, including residents of the state's rural and forested eastern areas, who want to break away and join Idaho.
Donecker, who describes herself as an avid Dungeons and Dragons player who lives with her wife, Jai, an adopted nine-year-old and two cats, quit her job at the department in March after falling out with bosses.
'It is bad for women at forestry,' Donecker said in an interview. 'It is even worse if you are queer.'
She filed her complaint against Mike Shaw and another manager, earlier this year.
Shaw has been on paid administrative leave since August 6, but officials have not revealed the reason for his absence.
Donecker said managers sidelined her, undercutting her DEI efforts.
She says she was cut from the forestry leadership meetings without warning. An email from February appears to confirm this.
In her complaint, Donecker said that cutting her from executive meetings sent the wrong message.
'I cannot emphasize enough how far back this is going to set myself and the work that I am trying to do,' she wrote in her complaint.
In private conversations with Shaw in March, Donecker says they discussed DEI efforts at the department, which is responsible for some 16 million acres of public and private forestland and the state's largest fire department.
He told her that an aggressive diversity-hiring push was like speeding on 'an icy road,' she said.
'We don't go 60 (mph) out of the gate, or we're gonna crash the car,' she said Shaw told her during their one-on-one meeting on March 5.
Donecker said the department's overall culture amounted to a 'boys' club.'
She described a meeting last year when State Forester Cal Mukumoto made a joke about a woman colleague at a meeting, praising her by saying that she 'puts in a really good lunch order.'
Mukumoto then 'chuckled, and everyone kind of chuckled,' said Donecker.
'No one batted an eye.'
The state has received about a dozen complaints against forestry chiefs this year, with some employees alleging a hostile culture toward women, a lack of diversity and a fear of retaliation.
Brenda McComb, vice chair of the Oregon Board of Forestry, said officials had done little to grow 'diversity representation' among its workforce or advisory committees and were not implementing a 'draft diversity plan.'
'If progress is being made, it is not apparent to me, and if it is not apparent to me, then it is not apparent to other members of the public,' McComb, a retired Oregon State University official, wrote.
'I am exhausted from being stone-walled on this issue by the agency and their unwillingness to consider this a priority,' she wrote in an August 23 email to state officials.
'I am hoping that you or the Governor's office will begin to hold this agency accountable in this regard.'
Another employee questioned the forestry department's pattern of directly hiring people without adequate vetting.
'This seems shady and leads to an old and current image by employees at ODF that it is the 'Good Old Boys' Club' or that it is 'Who you know not what you know',' says the complaint.
State officials redacted some of the names of those who filed complaints.
Mukumoto in a statement said he 'takes employee complaints and concerns seriously and, when brought to our attention, we ensure they're handled in accordance with state laws, rules, policies and HR best practices,'
'This includes protecting employees from retaliation,' he added, saying the agency is 'fully committed' to DEI.
'Providing a safe, diverse and inclusive workplace is a shared core value and priority of both the department and the Board of Forestry,' he said.
The forestry department is overseen by Mukumoto, who answers to the Oregon Board of Forestry, a seven-member citizen panel appointed by the governor.
The $237,288-a-year forestry chief was appointed in 2021 and manages an agency of nearly 1,400 employees and a biennial budget of about $577 million.
Shaw did not respond to interview requests.
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