San Francisco is being sued by a labor union that alleges its members faced retaliation from city officials for exposing practices linked to the wide-ranging City Hall corruption scandal.
Laborers International Union Local 261 said in a lawsuit being filed Wednesday in San Francisco Superior Court that its workers were harassed, ostracized and deprived of sanitary and safe restrooms after the union blew the whistle on unsavory activities by city agencies and elected leaders.
The union alleged that the city had hired people who did not actually work in workforce development programs at the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission and the Department of Public Works but instead were placed in those jobs because they had connections to city department heads and could “facilitate the flow of public funds to outside nonprofit agencies,” the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit alleges the union exposed corrupt practices by former Public Works Director Mohammad Nuru, who pleaded guilty to corruption charges earlier this year, indicted SFPUC Executive Director Harlan Kelly and other city and county officials.
The lawsuit contains allegations against former city officials who have not been charged with wrongdoing and and contains allegations that have not been disclosed as part of federal and city investigations.
The union said it also found that the city was awarding public money to favored nonprofits performing the same duties as employees in the jobs in question.
After union leaders “...
A nursing home run by the family of Kim Keon-hee lost the first trial in a lawsuit seeking to cancel the National Health Insurance Service's disposition to claw back about 1.4 billion won in long-...