It was revealed at the November 5th Spokane Regional Health District’s board of health meeting that Dr. Bob Lutz was allegedly engaged in unwanted sexual misconduct, in which he is said to have massaged an employee’s shoulders and placed his knee behind the same employee’s knee while massaging her. Among other allegations were a “toxic” work environment in which Dr. Lutz harassed female staff with sexist remarks and actions, including reaching out his hands to touch womens’ name plates which would, naturally, be worn on their chest. But allegations seemed to focus even more on behavioral problems, including insubordination.
Lutz admitted to this one among several allegations of sexual misconduct, stating matter-of-factly that he had “learned from it.”
When asked first if the sexual accusers should be believed, Dr. Lutz responded that, “they should always be believed”, but later claimed that he didn’t remember touching her shoulders or knee, but that he only touched the female employee’s arm.
There were also allegations of a serious lack of respect for the chain of command and gross insubordination to his boss, administrative health officer, Amalia Clark, who brought forth the allegations to the board. Ms. Clark’s additional claims are that her directives were undermined repeatedly, that he used his position to promote his personal politics, and that Dr. Bob Lutz was not a “team player”, stating that Lutz said he did not believe he should be accountable to anyone. Ms. Clark said that Lutz kept her “in the dark”, even though she repeatedly attempted to hold weekly administrative meetings to mitigate the issue.
Dr. Lutz was also criticized for undermining the credibility of SRHD, when he attended a large BLM protest during the height of Covid lockdowns. One commentator on social media stated: “Lutz shut down businesses, churches, & school but betrayed the public trust when he decided that it was okay for him to participate in a protest. He is obviously a guy who thinks he is above the rules.”
Dr. Lutz ended his comments and testimony, stating that while he respects the administrative position, that he does not respect Ms. Clark.
The health board voted in the affirmative to terminate Dr. Bob Lutz.