{"id":61516,"date":"2025-11-20T04:32:13","date_gmt":"2025-11-20T04:32:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/61516\/"},"modified":"2025-11-20T04:32:13","modified_gmt":"2025-11-20T04:32:13","slug":"former-worker-in-fresno-supervisors-office-seeks-1m-alleging-workplace-violence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/61516\/","title":{"rendered":"Former worker in Fresno supervisor\u2019s office seeks $1M, alleging workplace violence"},"content":{"rendered":"

A former assistant for Fresno County Supervisor Garry Bredefeld has filed a claim against the county alleging she was fired for filing a complaint over workplace violence.<\/p>\n

Jennifer Ortega<\/a>, a former television news anchor, was working in Bredefeld\u2019s office for about six months as his community relations and digital media manager when she alleges Bredefeld\u2019s chief of staff Daniel Gai blew up at her on June 13.<\/p>\n

Ortega complained about the alleged incident and was fired three months later, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am devastated,\u201d she said in an interview with The Fresno Bee.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had a successful career in television, and I got out of that to have more flexibility in my life, and I chose to work for Garry because he had a reputation for getting things done,\u201d she said. \u201cIn the short time I was there we were a successful team, and then Danny Gai just lost it one day, and I am out of a job.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ortega has filed a $1 million claim against the county seeking damages for lost income and emotional distress. Her attorneys, Laura Brown and Peter Bradley of Bradley & Brown of Fresno, said the claim is a required precursor to filing a civil lawsuit. It\u2019s like a request for a settlement, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe intent behind it is to allow government entities to resolve problems themselves,\u201d Brown said.<\/p>\n

Gai did not respond to a request for comment for this report.<\/p>\n

The county has 45 days from the time the claim was made in order to respond. If they deny the claim, the person filing the claim can proceed with taking the issue to court.<\/p>\n

Ortega said the incident happened on June 13 after a text she sent prompted Gai and Bredefeld to cancel lunch plans and come back to the office. Ortega\u2019s text message was related to a request for a media interview with the supervisor. When Gai arrived back to the office, Ortega says she could see that he was visibly upset, angry that he had to cancel his lunch plans.<\/p>\n

Gai proceeded to yell at her for nearly 10 minutes, she claims. She says she ran to her office to get away from him, but he followed her.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe slammed my door and hovered over my desk with his finger in my face,\u201d Ortega said told The Bee. \u201cThen he said, \u2018Don\u2019t bite the hand that feeds you. I got you this job.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Ortega said she began to feel uncomfortable and told him to please open her office door.<\/p>\n

\u201cI did not know what he was capable of because I knew he had a history of domestic violence,\u201d she said. \u201cI was worried for my safety.\u201d<\/p>\n

GV Wire was first to report that a claim was filed by Ortega.<\/p>\n

Gai was convicted of domestic violence<\/a> charges in January 2022 in an incident involving his fianc\u00e9e and her mother, court records show.<\/p>\n

Gai, who was part of Bredefeld\u2019s city council staff at the time, pleaded no contest to one count of committing corporal injury on a spouse or cohabitant, three counts of assault by means likely to produce great bodily injury, and one count of child endangerment.<\/p>\n

He was facing 11 years in prison, but Superior Court Judge Jeff Hamilton gave him four years of probation, based on his lack of criminal history.<\/p>\n

Bredefeld said Tuesday that while he normally doesn\u2019t comment on pending claims or litigation he is making an exception.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know the county\u2019s actions were completely justified, and the many facts demonstrate Ms. Ortega\u2019s claim is baseless,\u201d he said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Ortega said she is saddened by Bredefeld\u2019s lack of support.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe in his cause and I believe in him, but I am extremely disappointed right now,\u201d she said. \u201cHe told me my job was secure and that the way Danny treated me was unacceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A former assistant for Fresno County Supervisor Garry Bredefeld has filed a claim against the county alleging she…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":61517,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[4749,37158,112,622,114,113,36275,37160,37159,37157,37156],"class_list":{"0":"post-61516","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fresno","8":"tag-domestic-violence","9":"tag-filing-a-complaint","10":"tag-fresno","11":"tag-fresno-county","12":"tag-fresno-headlines","13":"tag-fresno-news","14":"tag-jennifer-ortega","15":"tag-laura-brown","16":"tag-peter-bradley","17":"tag-supervisor-garry-bredefeld","18":"tag-workplace-violence"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61516","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61516"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61516\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61517"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61516"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61516"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61516"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}