One big target for DOGE should be the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (LADPH) and how it's used (or misused) federal dollars. RedState has exclusively learned that people within LA County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer's executive office attempted to force a financial analyst to approve a fraudulent invoice submitted for a CDC contract, then retaliated against her so aggressively that she ended up homeless and relying on food stamps to eat.

According to complaints filed with the EEOC and the California Civil Rights Department, the analyst was brought into the Office of Planning, Integration and Engagement, located in Ferrer's executive office, in July 2023 to conduct the year-end review and assessment of prior expenditure invoicing for a $6.8 million School COVID-19 Prevention Partnership (SCPP) contract LADPH had with the CDC. She noted that numerous expenditures from subcontractors didn't have proper documentation or were unaccounted for, and that there was a one-cent discrepancy between the invoices and expenditures. Rather than attempt to figure out why there was a discrepancy, the subcontractor presented the analyst with what she says was a fraudulent invoice for one cent. 

The analyst refused to sign off on it, and sadly went on bereavement leave within days when her father passed away. While she was out, on Family Medical Leave Act leave, her manager was still pressuring her to sign off on the invoice. When she still refused and sent an email to the entire team (including Ferrer) explaining why, she was locked out of her work email account and phone.

Here is the email Ferrer was blind copied on, according to the analyst. It is part of a longer thread Ferrer also would have seen.

When she returned to work at the end of her FMLA leave the analyst was told that her position (through Healthcare Staffing Professionals) had been terminated and that there weren't any comparable positions available - even though she could see on HSP's website that there were comparable positions available. The FMLA requires employers to restore an employee to the same or a similar position when they return from leave, but the analyst says that HSP delayed her paychecks upon her return unless she either signed a severance agreement for two months' pay or took a demotion to a job that paid 30 percent less.

By this time, in early February, 2024, the analyst was in dire financial straits; she had been the primary caregiver for her father for eight years before he passed in July 2023. Under duress, she says she signed the severance agreement, but still ended up losing her home. She was forced to send her children to live with family in another county and by fall of 2024 was reliant on food stamps to eat.

Pervasive Workplace Bullying

Since the beginning days of the pandemic, we’ve written numerous articles about not-a-doctor Barbara Ferrer’s mismanagement of the LADPH. She’s gotten almost nothing right, focusing on “equity” instead of science, targeting small businesses for excessive fines, handing out patronage jobs to convicted felons, and retaliating against anyone who gets in her way. The workplace is so toxic and the retaliation so pervasive that just over a year ago Heather Hughes, a longtime employee beloved by her coworkers, committed suicide by jumping off the roof of the Metroplex building.

READ MORE: Toxic Workplace Leads to Employee Suicide at LA County Department of Public Health

Part of Hughes' issues with LADPH also related to FMLA; Hughes had a note from her physician substantiating the need for leave but LADPH still refused to grant it, as opposed to what happened to the analyst in this case. The difference is that LADPH wanted Hughes to remain on the job as an overworked Environmental Health Specialist, while they wanted the analyst - who could spot possibly millions of improperly-spent federal dollars - gone.

When Ferrer had a meeting with employees after Hughes' suicide, she shamed them for talking about it and then erroneously claimed that Hughes had never filed grievances.

Here are Ferrer's comments about Heather filing a grievance juxtaposed with what one of the union board members said. pic.twitter.com/gf0iLNO62Q

— Jennifer Van Laar (@jenvanlaar) February 18, 2024

Then she likened abused workers to 9/11 terrorists; instead of offering support to despondent employees she told everyone else "see something, say something."

Ferrer was at the Metroplex office to introduce grief counselors after Hughes' death. Multiple employees who've reached out to me say that bc of the hostile work environment people are afraid of a workplace shooting. Ferrer's response to what mgmt can do to allay those concerns… pic.twitter.com/Lh22g8B7Af

— Jennifer Van Laar (@jenvanlaar) February 17, 2024

In this case, the California Civil Rights Department accepted the analyst's complaint and served Ferrer and others on January 13, 2025, but to date there’s been no response – even though an answer to the complaint is due within 30 days – and according to the analyst, the state isn’t putting any pressure on the department to comply. The EEOC issued her a "right to sue" letter and she attempted mediation, but Ferrer and her department have essentially ghosted her.

SCPP Isn't About COVID

In 2022 LADPH was awarded a multiyear contract from CDC they call the SCPP – School COVID-19 Prevention Program. From that name, you’d think that it was about preventing COVID in schools, but nope - it was just a big slush fund.

According to the CDC:

“This funding is intended to establish, expand, train, and sustain the SLTT public health workforce to support jurisdictional COVID-19 prevention, preparedness, response, and recovery initiatives, including school-based health programs.”

Here's Ferrer's description of SCPP in Los Angeles County (original spelling/punctuation):

Since school’s reopened, from closures due to COVID-19, children in LAC have faced trauma due to illness or death of loved ones and likewise experienced unprecedented academic and social/emotional learning challenges due to the lengthy period of isolation during school closures/remote learning, struggling with chronic absenteeism and lagging in grade-level achievements. These experiences contribute to adverse health effects most notably among children who reside in marginalized communities with the highest infection rates and lowest COVID-19 vaccination rates – often an intersection of communities of color, low socioeconomic status, and decreased access to health/mental health services – and further substantiates the need for ongoing pandemic recovery and resiliency programs and services that address the health, mental health, and academic achievement gaps that have been both created and/or exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The SCPP program addresses the negative impacts of COVID-19 on students’ health by collaborating and partnering with K-12 schools across LAC to address the health, academic, and mental health gaps and challenges both created and exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly among underserved communities.

Federal funds were also used to pay off parents/reward them for going along with the official pandemic/vaccination/masking narratives. At each school, five parents got between $11,400 and $12,600/year to be "influencers" and "provide peer education." From the contract:

PAL award amounts are based on the following:

• $2,000 per semester for each of two school champions (a teacher and school staff member) implementation of school community outreach effort
• $6,300 per semester for two Parent Action Leaders to serve as team leaders working closely with the School Champions to develop strategies for effectiveness within their school community
• $5,700 per semester for three Parent Partners, “influencers”, whose primary role is to reach out to parents and to provide peer education

$60,000 program support costs

Total of $1,040,000 to support PAL programming across 35 school sites.

Now, there are definitely more than 35 school sites in Los Angeles County; this contract focused on schools in economically disadvantaged areas where the parents likely didn't have advanced degrees or any of the other qualifications progressives usually associate with being educated. So why would they be paid to provide peer education?

And here's where more of these COVID prevention funds were spent:

California Public Records Act requests have been filed with Los Angeles County for copies of all invoices paid under the SCPP, and corresponding requests have been filed with the CDC. We will update you with those responses when they're received.

DOGE is finding billions of dollars in wasteful spending, and the Democrats are losing their minds as they realize their gravy train and woke projects are coming to an end.

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