Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins spoke out on camera for the first time on Tuesday since Zachary Thompson, the head of Health and Human Services, was fired amid sexual harassment accusations.
Jenkins said ‘times up,’ referring to the ongoing movement against sexual harassment in the workplace, and promises to fix anything in the county’s system that may be broken when it comes to how allegations are handled.
An internal investigation is ongoing at Health and Human Services in Dallas.
Dallas County is close to hiring an outside law firm with human resources experts to review the case against Thompson.
The first Dallas County Commissioners Court meeting since Thompson’s termination took place Tuesday morning.
Thompson’s replacement was present, but there was no mention of Thompson during the open meeting.
However, Jenkins agreed to speak with NBC 5 on camera for the first time since the allegations surfaced and Thompson was fired.
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“We want every employee here in Dallas County to feel safe in the workplace,” said Jenkins. “Time is up in Dallas County and around this country for people to feel anything less than that. We want to do everything we can to improve on any practice that needs to be improved on.”
A Dallas County employee, who spoke to NBC 5 on the condition of anonymity, shared her claims again Thompson.
She alleges Thompson engaged in a pattern of sexual abuse as well as harassment and intimidation for years.
The woman told NBC 5 she feels human resources mishandled a claim she says she filed against Thompson.
“We’ll have outside professionals come in and look at that carefully,” said Jenkins when asked about specific complaints the woman made against HR.
When asked if Dallas County failed this woman, Jenkins replied:
“That’s what the investigation will look into and we’ll bring in professionals to do this, HR professionals that do this to look at that.”
Jenkins will say he had already asked for the current policy for reporting sexual harassment to be reviewed in light of the ‘Me Too’ movement against sexual harassment in the workplace.
He says several women confided in him their own experiences.
“My own wife for instance, my mother, my sister, others, of incidents that have happened to them so it is just something that we have to lead on and not be afraid of,” he said.
NBC 5 asked Jenkins if anyone else has been or could be fired related to the woman’s case and how it was handled.
He would only say no one has been fired.
Jenkins said he does not know how much the investigation will cost or how long it will take, but he did add there has been no settlement reached with the alleged victim.
Thompson was fired January 3.
Thompson intended to retire on January 31.
Jenkins said while Thompson’s pay stopped as soon as he was fired he does likely qualify for retirement compensation.
NBC 5 reached out to Thompson and his attorney again on Tuesday, but have not heard back.
