California emergency services official sued for sexual harassment, retaliation
SACRAMENTO, California — In a lawsuit filed Tuesday, a deputy director of the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services was accused of sexual harassment and retaliation against a senior employee when 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 from other female employees, the lawsuit alleges. Newsom named Buras deputy director of recovery operations in 2019, a role that includes wildfire and other disaster response. Bowyer was a senior emergency services coordinator.
“This administration has swept a predatory campaign of sexual and psychological abuse under the rug,” Bowyer said in a statement released by her lawyers. “A workplace that is all about supporting disaster survivors became a terrifying and nightmarish disaster zone in itself because they enabled his disgusting behavior.”
An email seeking comment from Buras was not immediately returned.
Buras’s alleged harassment included him getting into bed with Bowyer while she slept during a gathering at his home, “touching her without consent, trying to get her alone in hotel rooms, grabbing her hand in public, touching her almost every night called and texted and more. ‘, according to the press release from her lawyer.
Bowyer “believed her career would be over the moment she told Buras to stop his advances, so she tried to think of the politest way to stop his behavior,” according to the lawsuit, which was filed in Superior Court in Sacramento County.
But ultimately, after rejecting his advances, Bowyer faced retaliation from Buras, including restricting her access to the resources needed to do her job, the lawsuit states.
His alleged conduct prevented Bowyer from providing essential services to disaster survivors and caused her so much stress, anxiety and depression that a doctor determined she was “completely disabled” in 2021, the lawsuit said.
While Cal OES launched an investigation, Bowyer received a letter later that year stating that Buras had not acted inappropriately, the lawsuit said.
“This man is untouchable,” Bowyer told The Associated Press in an interview.
In an emailed statement, Cal OES said it had hired an outside law firm to investigate allegations of harassment and “took appropriate action” after the investigation found “no policies were violated.”
The statement provided no other details.
In an earlier statement, the agency said that “sexual harassment in the workplace is an affront to our values as an organization. It has no place in Cal OES and it will not be tolerated in any form.” ___ Austin is a staff member of The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow Austin on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter: @sophieadanna