Was she thrown under the bus? Metro attorney fired amid shredding controversy allegedly called employee a 'blond bitch'

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The former top attorney for Houston's public transit system used an “offensive and divisive” management style that created “an intimidating, hostile environment” and led to high turnover in the legal department, according to documents in former Metro general counsel Pauline Higgins’ personnel file.

A December report details allegations by employees that Higgins managed with fear, was overly demanding and at one point referred to an employee as a “blond bitch.”

Metro fired Higgins last month amid a controversy over whether the transit agency improperly shredded documents. Ever since, the agency’s CEO Frank Wilson has been on a crusade to malign her reputation, Higgins’ attorney said Thursday night. He said he was surprised the agency had released her personnel file.

Metro’s dispute with Higgins stemmed from her efforts to get the agency in compliance with laws regulating the retention of documents, attorney Rusty Hardin said. Hardin said he could not comment on the specifics in the report, since he had not reviewed it, but said the accusations are aimed at distracting the public from the document issue.

“Pauline was constantly trying to get them to present to the board a document retention policy that would set up the standards as to what should be maintained and what could and could not be eliminated," Hardin said. “What he chose to do is to kill the messenger. It’s as simple as that.”

Higgins was fired Feb. 23. As senior vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary, she reported directly to Wilson.

Hardin told the Houston Chronicle at the time that the firing came after Higgins expressed concern about how a public information request was being handled. Another Metro attorney, who left the agency in the same week, had admitted to shredding some documents, Metro told the newspaper.

A temporary injunction hearing related to the public information request is scheduled for Friday afternoon. A hearing in the matter of Lloyd Kelley v. Frank Wilson is set to be heard in the 61^st District Court.

Allegation: Employees in tears over Higgins’ cruelty

Higgins' management style fueled complaints, according to the personnel documents.

The Dec. 4 report and a chronology of events dated Feb. 22, the day before her firing, detail allegations of name-calling, micromanagement and disrespect.

Higgins was hired in August 2008.

A temporary executive assistant to Higgins resigned less than two months after being hired, and early on Higgins got crossways with staff members in human resources, according to a chronology prepared by M. Helen Cavazos, Metro’s vice president of human resources, diversity and inclusion.

She “would ignore certain members of my staff. …There were other instances where she started to send Email messages to my staff deriding them about some misdeed or another,” Cavazos wrote.

Higgins ran a tight ship, installing locks in the Legal Department, instituting a sign-in/sign-out sheet when leaving the department, and telling staff not to spend too much time gossiping in the break room, according to Cavazos’ timeline. Cavazos says these actions were evidence of a “controlling management style.”

The timeline goes on to detail legal staff departures under Higgins’ watch, and says that 12 of 15 Legal Department employees had left Metro or requested a transfer since November 2008.

In June 2009, Cavazos decided to bring in a management consultant and told Higgins she wanted to start by conducting a personality assessment on certain key employees, according to Cavazos’ chronology. Later, Higgins refused to participate, and the plan to hire the consultant was dropped.

In addition to the concerns raised about her management style, the documents released Thursday say Higgins violated policy governing use of Metro resources by holding meetings for a fundraiser at Metro. The agency also says Higgins hired people who had helped out with the fundraiser, an apparent violation of conflict of interest rules.

Higgins has sterling resume, has written on personnel issues

However, a peek into Higgins' background offers a starkly different view from the one pictured in the documents Metro released Thursday.

Articles written about and by her suggest an executive who would have been sensitive to personnel issues and mindful of the expectations of civility and sensitivity in modern workplaces.

Higgins has a top-notch resume, having served in high-level positions with Thompson & Knight, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., Exxon, and U.S. Rep  Sheila Jackson-Lee, the Houston Democrat, for whom Higgins served as chief of staff in the mid-'90s. Higgins earned a $262,000 salary from Metro as of summer 2009. Her job offer letter describes a bi-weekly car allowance of $307.70, a $20,000 relocation bonus, $10,000 in deferred compensation and a $25,000 bonus payable after the first year of employment.

A graduate of the University of Houston and Tulane University School of Law, Higgins is also a certified public accountant, according to her resume, which details numerous awards from legal, business and nonprofit groups.

A 2008 Texas Lawyer profile of Higgins, headlined “Extraordinary Women in Law: Pauline E. Higgins” credited her with becoming the first chief diversity officer at a big firm in Texas, based on her tenure at Thompson & Knight.

“At Thompson & Knight, Higgins interviewed all the partners to learn their definitions of and vision for diversity and inclusion.

"She held lunches for associates of color at the firm, giving new lawyers the opportunity to learn from one another about how to address and resolve issues.

"She also implemented 360-degree reviews, in which performance evaluations come not only from bosses but also subordinates and co-workers.”

Higgins wrote an article for the magazine in 2008, offering guidance on how to avoid language that favors some employees over others.

A voicemail message left about 6 p.m. at a phone number for a Pauline E. Higgins was not returned as of the deadline for this story. We will continue to try to reach Higgins directly, and if we can, we’ll post an update here with her comments.

Contact Lee Ann O'Neal at 713-980-9777 or leeann@texaswatchdog.org.

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	Whateverhappenedtobabyjane Friday, 03/05/2010 - 11:23PM This women sounds like she suffers from classic narcissistic personality disorder. The problem is that management should have gotten rid of her a long time ago. It seems that a leopard does not change her spots. Alot of people at METRO knew she was abusive and it took the little people who put their jobs on th line to speak up. The higher ups certainly had stories to tell but remained silent. Shame on all of them.
	Muffydog Sunday, 03/07/2010 - 08:57AM So Higgins served a Cheif of Staff to Sheila "High Staff Turnover" Jackson Lee? What a coincidence! "Driving Miss Sheila" and Pauline seem to both live off the taxpayer teat with outrageous entitlement plans....Sheila better hope that Pauline's case doesn't link her to the corruption that is Bill White and Shreddergate or the Houston conservatives will have a field day with this....
	Jason Monday, 03/08/2010 - 10:55AM She modeled the behavior that was embraced by the management team over the past several years. So there should have been no surprises to her bosses, who similarly manage by intimidation. Looks like a diversionary tactic, especially the release of information from personnel files.
	Jo Ann Wrong Friday, 03/12/2010 - 12:41AM So Frank was informed on December 4 that action was required. Wonder why it took so long to resolve. Maybe he left it to his "chief of staff". She is still trying to learn how to spell FTA from what people inside METRO are saying.