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The lawsuit says the part-time worker, Joseph Millam, spoke with police and Oakridge Mayor Bryan Cutchen, and later was retaliated against and was passed over for a full-time position.

A former part-time firefighter and paramedic in Oakridge has filed a lawsuit alleging he was retaliated against after speaking with police and the city’s mayor about staffing issues, including his own status and compensation.

Joseph Millam, a Creswell resident, says he began working part-time for Oakridge Fire & EMS in April 2023 via a third-party agency, PeopleReady Inc.

In October 2023, Millam “provided information to Oakridge Police in connection with an investigation concerning whether public funds had been paid to Chief (Scott) Hollett’s wife for shifts or calls she allegedly had not performed,” the lawsuit states.

The lawsuit does not provide more detail about any criminal investigation. City Administrator James Cleavenger, named as a defendant in the lawsuit, did not respond to questions from Lookout Eugene-Springfield about the lawsuit and the claims made by Millam. Scott Hollett is also a defendant in the lawsuit.

In an email to Lookout, Randy Harvey, an attorney representing Millam, said about the police inquiry: “To the best of our knowledge and information no investigation was conducted.”

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Eugene, says that Millam — from fall 2023 through May 2024 — began taking on an expanded role as a shift leader. As part of this role, he took on a schedule with 48 hours on-duty, followed by 96 hours off-duty.

Separately from Millam speaking with police, in late 2023 and early 2024 he “raised concerns about Fire Department operations and public safety as well as his own compensation and status.”

Among Millam’s concerns, which were shared with Hollett and Cleavenger, according to the lawsuit, were alleged “ambulance transports without appropriately trained or certified personnel.”

Millam also raised concerns about “use of respiratory equipment without current testing, apparatus testing and condition, and incomplete or inaccurate narcotics logs,” the lawsuit states. 

“To the best of our knowledge nothing was done and the department continued to use improper equipment and procedures,” Harvey said Thursday in his email.

An Oregon Health Authority spokesperson confirmed that the city of Oakridge has a valid ambulance service license through June of next year.

Concerns about role

Millam also raised concerns about his role and compensation, telling Hollett he could not work as a shift leader without changes to his compensation, the lawsuit states. Millam returned to more limited shifts.

At one point he was told by other Oakridge personnel that “Hollett was openly upset with [him] and was expressing frustration about [him] to incoming and outgoing shift personnel,” the lawsuit states.

By June 2024, Millam could no longer sign up for part-time work with Oakridge Fire & EMS. He was later told by a department captain that Hollett had removed him from the scheduling system “until he spoke with Hollett.”

He did so, and began working again. But Millam later arranged to meet with Mayor Bryan Cutchen to discuss his concerns.

Cutchen later told Millam that he had spoken with Hollett and Cleavenger, and that Hollett would be in touch with him. Hollett, in an email, told Millam, “I will no longer be using you as a PeopleReady part-time staff.”

“The email did not identify a performance, attendance, patient-care, or other operational reason for that decision. Hollett described the decision as his own and invited Plaintiff to apply for the open full-time firefighter / paramedic position,” the lawsuit states.

Hollett then declined to meet with Millam, stating that Millam was a PeopleReady employee and he saw no reason to meet.

Millam applied for the full-time position at Oakridge Fire & EMS, and the lawsuit contends that he “outscored the successful candidate” in various testing measures, but was passed over when the successful candidate scored higher “on the Chief’s Interview and a subjective ‘Suitability/Veracity’ component.”

Comments about Millam from the interview process referenced his “prior conflicts involving the Oakridge Police Department and stated that Plaintiff’s interview responses conflicted with his performance as part-time staff.”

The lawsuit alleges that the city’s “subjective evaluation treated those activities adversely,” specifically Millam’s going to the mayor with concerns and his speaking with police.

Millam alleges that the August 2024 termination of his Oakridge assignment and then being passed over in October 2024 for a position amount to “two distinct adverse decisions.”

“His protected speech and reporting were a substantial or motivating factor in both decisions,” the lawsuit contends. He is seeking unspecified damages.

“Mr. Millam was the target of retaliation and discrimination for the good faith reporting of dangerous conduct and misuse of public funds,” Harvey said in an email.