The board of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California voted to appoint a new top manager and offered a legal settlement to General Manager Adel Hagekhalil after a seven-month investigation into allegations of discrimination that exposed deep divisions within California’s largest urban water supplier.
The new leader of the MWD will be Deven Upadhyay, who has been serving as interim general manager.
Board members announced the decision after holding a third closed-door meeting to discuss the findings of investigations into allegations against Hagekhalil. The board told Hagekhalil he had until 4 p.m. to accept the offer, which would end his tenure as general manager.
The findings of the completed investigations have not been made public. And details of the proposed settlement were not immediately disclosed.
Hagekhalil’s lawyer, Kerry Garvis Wright, indicated that he would reject the offer.
“This decision is nothing more than a political power grab, clearing the way for Metropolitan to return to old and antiquated water policies,” Garvis Wright said in an email. “Over the past week, Mr. Hagekhalil offered to resolve his legal claims against MWD, but now is left with no choice but to pursue all his legal options to protect his rights and reputation.”
Hagekhalil was placed on leave in June in response to allegations by the agency’s chief financial officer, Katano Kasaine, who accused him of sexism and alleged he had harassed, demeaned and sidelined her and created a hostile work environment. Hagekhalil denied the accusations, saying he did nothing wrong.
Kasaine criticized MWD’s handling of the process during a public portion of Wednesday’s meeting, saying the board had “chosen to reward Mr. Hagekhalil, despite clear findings of wrongdoing.”
Some of the accusations against Hagekhalil were aired publicly when Kasaine’s complaint to the board was leaked to the media in June.
Dawn Collins, a lawyer for Kasaine, told the board that the leak of her confidential letters regarding her complaints led to her becoming a “target of bullying and public scrutiny that has taken a severe toll on her, both professionally and personally.” Collins urged MWD to act transparently and “release the investigation report.”
Collins said at least one of Kasaine’s complaints was substantiated by the investigation, that Hagekhalil “treated her less favorably than her male colleagues.”
Garvis Wright said that his client did not engage in any misconduct, and that the investigation “did not substantiate the alleged retaliation, harassment, or hostile work environment.”
Hagekhalil was the district’s first Arab American general manager. His lawyer and supporters have said they are concerned that anti-Arab sentiments among some board members could affect the investigation.
While Hagekhalil was on leave, one board member, John Morris, was censured by the MWD board for making a racist remark about another district employee. The agency’s officials said that case did not directly involve Hagekhalil. Nevertheless, the MWD board barred Morris from taking part in the deliberations and votes regarding the Hagekhalil investigation.
“The Board voted to terminate his contract without cause, which is a continuation of the racist, discriminatory, and retaliatory treatment of him throughout his tenure with the agency,” Garvis Wright said. “As an Arab and Muslim American, he and others were subjected to overtly racist comments and actions by Board members who organized opposition to him and voted against him.”
The Metropolitan Water District delivers water to cities and agencies that supply 19 million people across Southern California. As the district’s top manager, Hagekhalil played a central role in efforts to transform the agency and shift its mix of water supplies to help Southern California adapt to worsening droughts intensified by climate change.
“Mr. Hagekhalil was hired to reform MWD, and he achieved significant accomplishments, guided the agency through historic drought conditions and earned excellent performance reviews every year,” Garvis Wright said. “However, change is never easy, and some saw change as a threat and filed several baseless claims against him.”
This is a developing story, and will be updated.