The employee, Cherokee Staples, is seeking up to $550,000 in damages as she alleges complaints about a supervisor’s alleged “inappropriate” comments and failure to follow UO policy. Staples worked at UO for 14 years before losing her job as a director of business operations in June 2025.
A former longtime University of Oregon business employee alleges retaliation by the university after she complained about a supervisor’s “mismanagement, gross waste of funds, and abuse of authority.”
Cherokee Staples filed a wrongful discharge lawsuit Wednesday, March 11, in Lane County Circuit Court, also alleging sex discrimination and a violation of the state’s whistleblower protection law.
Staples began working for UO in 2011, and, in 2023, became a director of business operations, the lawsuit states.
Complaints she made between March and October 2024 about the supervisor, Richard Menard, were “ignored or minimized” by an associate vice president, Jon Marchetta, the lawsuit says. A memo from Staples and other employees complaining of “inappropriate jokes about pregnancy” and other comments also resulted in no action taken, the lawsuit claims.
In a statement, UO spokesperson Natalie Hurd said: “We disagree with the allegations in the complaint and will address them in the court proceedings.
“We want to be clear: the university takes all complaints of discrimination, harassment, and retaliation seriously. UO has established policies and processes for reporting and investigating...
New York | The JPMorgan banker named in a graphic sexual harassment suit that went viral last month hit back at her accuser with a defamation counterclaim, calling his allegations “entirely false” ...