Lawsuit Accuses a California Emergency Services Official of Sexual Harassment, Retaliation

A lawsuit filed Tuesday accused a deputy director of the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services of sexual harassment and retaliation against a senior employee while the agency did nothing to stop it.

Ryan Buras, an appointee of Gov. Gavin Newsom, harassed Kendra Bowyer for a year beginning in 2020 despite the agency’s knowledge of similar previous allegations made by other women employees, the lawsuit contends. Newsom named Buras in 2019 as deputy director of recovery operations, a role that includes wildfire and other disaster response. Bowyer was a senior emergency services coordinator.

“This administration swept a predator’s campaign of sexual and psychological abuse under the rug,” Bowyer said in a statement released by her lawyers. “A workplace that centers around supporting disaster survivors became a terrifying and nightmarish disaster zone in and of itself because they enabled his disgusting behavior.”

Read the source article at AP News