Lopez

BACKGROUND

While Lopez was working and living in Sacramento, employees of the Tribe informed her of job openings with the Tribe and encouraged her to apply for a position. One of the positions was for program manager of the Tribe’s First Foods Policy Program within the Department. The vacancy announcement said the goal of the Department was to protect, restore and enhance the “first foods” -- water, salmon, deer, cous, and huckleberry -- for the perpetual benefit of the Tribe. Although the vacancy announcement described duties for the program manager position, Quaempts did not disclose that the program and position would be different from what was described in the vacancy announcement. Lopez would not have applied for the position had she known the vacancy announcement contained incorrect information, particularly about staffing and budget. In reliance on the representations made to her, Lopez moved from Sacramento to Oregon and worked as the program manager. After completing probation, Lopez discovered that the budget for the First Foods Policy Program was not as stated in the vacancy announcement. She talked with Quaempts and Tovey about bringing the program’s budget and…