LOS ANGELES (CNS) - A Los Angeles Department of Water and Power employee has filed an amended lawsuit against the city, alleging she was marginalized and retaliated against for speaking out against questionable spending by high-ranking DWP executives.

Arlene Rodriguez's revised lawsuit was filed Sept. 5 and alleges retaliation, sexual harassment and failure to prevent sexual harassment and retaliation. She seeks unspecified damages.

A representative for the City Attorney's Office did not immediately reply to a request for comment on the suit.

Rodriguez was hired in 2006 and now is an executive assistant to the DWP's director of corporate environment affairs. She previously held a similar role with the department's general manager. For five years, she reviewed various requests to the office for such matters as approval for travel plans and expense reports, according to the suit.

In 2021, a manager submitted a travel plan, and she noticed that the manager was asking for luxury lodging and expenses for a friend who was not a DWP employee, the suit states.

After Rodriguez reported her concerns to her boss and the City Attorney's Office, DWP Board of Commissioners President Cynthia McClain-Hill began retaliating against the plaintiff, subjecting her to special scrutiny to try and find fault with her work, the suit alleges.

McClain-Hill herself went on a 2023 business trip in which she and another DWP employee submitted invoices of $980 each for hospitality and small giveaway that were put down as conference registration expenses, the suit states.

Rodriguez additionally reported that McClain-Hill misappropriated $10,000 to buy Coke Zero and snacks to stock the DWP snack cabinet for herself and others, the complaint further alleges.

In October 2021, Rodriguez was falsely targeted in an alleged overtime abuse investigation, according to the suit, which further states that McClain-Hill and the manager took aim at the plaintiff with baseless payroll audits.

The next month, Rodriguez's identification badge access was removed, locking her out of her office, the suit further alleges.

The general manager did nothing when Rodriguez reported the alleged harassment as well as the payment of multiple invoices submitted by a company without proper documentation, according to the complaint.

In 2022, a male employee began making sexually inappropriate comments to Rodriguez, including that she "sounded sexy," and also sent the plaintiff multiple unfitting text messages, the suit states.

The allegedly hostile actions toward Rodriguez forced her to take a medical leave in August 2023, the suit further states. Rodriguez continued speaking out when she returned from leave last November, according to the suit.

Rodriguez has suffered income losses and emotional distress due to her work environment, the suit alleges. A case management conference is scheduled Dec. 12 before Judge Lia Martin.

Bill Handel