Cambria Horne said she learned early in her career at Seattle City Light that speaking up came with consequences.
Horne first went to work for the city utility department in 2005. As an apprentice, she faced repeated pressure to go out drinking with her crew after their shifts. Horne said that one night she told her crew chief she did not want to go, but went anyway after he made a veiled threat about future jobs.
She learned the next day that she had been taken off of overtime — something she had never heard of happening in her then-three years at the agency. A supervisor told her it was up to the crew chief’s discretion.
“It was the first time that I really saw that and realized that opening your mouth means you get retaliated against and nothing is done about it,” Horne told Cascade PBS.
Horne, who helped spark a wide-ranging investigation into a culture of drinking and sexism at Seattle City Light, filed a new lawsuit in federal court late last month, alleging the city outed her as a whistleblower and enabled retaliation over her participation in the investigation. She said she was placed on administrative leave earlier this year.
A Cascade PBS investigation found that Seattle City Light has paid out at least $5 million in settlements over the past several years, including millions to its own employees over alleged discrimination or misconduct.
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