Metro Nashville Health HR Department Strikes Back Against Controversial Equity Director Stephanie Kang

Members of the Metro Nashville Public Health Department’s (MPHD’s) Human Resources (HR) Office are fighting back against scathing criticism from their Racial and Health Equity Director Stephanie Kang.

Kang last month distributed a memo to MPHD board members to complain about the department’s alleged instances of bullying, sexism, racism, and homophobia.

Kang directed much of her ire at the MPHD’s HR Department. But in this new memo, MPHD officials provided their side of the story and said Kang did not bother to get all the facts before she attacked them.

MPHD HR Manager Les Bowron sent a counter-memo to board members on Tuesday. The Tennessee Star obtained the memo on Wednesday.

“My initial reaction to Dr. Kang’s letter was to turn the other cheek and continue the work of overseeing a small team of dedicated HR professionals who have been providing superior human resource services to the employees of the Health Department,” Bowron wrote.

“However, because I and my team have been attacked by false, misleading, and, in some instances, libelous accusations, I feel compelled to provide you with HR’s response.”

Bowron provided several examples of how HR staff members behaved professionally on the job. In one instance, Bowron said they, despite an accusation that said otherwise, never disparaged one MPHD employee’s use of the pronoun “they” during an investigatory interview.

“The HR investigator informed the employee/witness that if a report referred to a singular witness as ‘they’ when describing evidence obtained from one person, a person reading that report might become confused about how many people were providing the evidence,” Bowron wrote.

“At no time did the investigator say anything negative or disparaging about an employee’s choice of pronouns.”

Bowron went on to say that his HR department follows federal guidelines — consistently.

“Most telling about Dr. Kang’s complaint against MPHD HR is the indisputable fact that Dr. Kang could have easily learned a great deal about the Civil Service Rules and the process HR employed when it responded to the employee complaints described in her letter if she had ever asked us,” Bowron wrote.

“She never has.”

Bowron also said that Kang often failed to provide evidence to back up her accusations.

MPHD spokesman Brian Todd, who had a skirmish with Kang last year, did not confirm the new memo’s authenticity and, after business hours, referred The Star to the MPHD’s Records Office.

MPHD staff in December apologized after Kang called the not guilty verdict in the Kyle Rittenhouse trial an injustice.

Read the memo:

[wonderplugin_pdf src=”https://tennesseestar.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/KANG-Health-HR_20220301.pdf” width=”650px” height=”800px” style=”border:0;”]

– – –

Chris Butler is an investigative journalist at The Tennessee Star and The Georgia Star News. Follow Chris on Facebook, Twitter, Parler, and GETTR. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Stephanie Kang” by Stephanie Kang. Background Photo “Nashville City Hall” by euthman. CC BY-SA 2.0.