Harris County employees who report to elected officials may submit complaints about their bosses to Human Resources, but the department lacks the authority to discipline those officials.
It’s an issue that’s arisen at nearly every level of government in Texas, from mayors accused of sexual harassment to officials accused of creating a hostile work environment. Most recently, state District Judge Nathan Milliron was filmed in a viral video belittling a Harris County information technology employee, raising questions about what recourse county employees have if they believe an elected official has violated workplace policies.
READ MORE: Harris County judge’s rebuke of county employee goes viral, sparking widespread criticism
In most cases, the power to address workers’ complaints lies mainly in voters’ hands, as elected officials are broadly immune to disciplinary action under Texas law.
Article continues below this ad
Harris County’s Department of Human Resources and Risk Management found no record of any sustained complaints against Milliron. It’s unknown whether the county IT employee filed a complaint with the county or any other authority in the wake of a viral video that drew widespread outrage toward the civil judge.
Judges, unlike other elected leaders, answer to the State Commission on Judicial Conduct when accused of conflicts of interest, rude behavior or certain pending criminal charges. The commission’s investigations are confidential and the results are rarely revealed unless a public disciplinary action is issued.
Although the commission was created in 1965 to police the conduct of judges, University of Houston political science lecturer Nancy Sims said the best way to hold them accountable is at the ballot box.
Article continues below this ad
“We’ve had judges who’ve mistreated people for decades,” Sims said. “People can file complaints with the judicial commissions, with ethics commissions, with the state bar, but for the most part, they’re an independently elected official, and there’s not a lot of outside influence that can affect their behavior.”
Erika Owens, the county’s HR director, said her department is not empowered to discipline elected officials. Employees are nonetheless required to report instances of discrimination and harassment, according to the county’s employment manual.
“Harris County is committed to maintaining a respectful workplace environment free from discrimination and harassment,” Owens said in a statement.
Holding elected officials accountable
HR complaints can help employees who are willing to litigate their allegations. Proven instances of discrimination and harassment can expose local governments to federal lawsuits, which typically may only be filed after an employee has exhausted all other remedies available to them, including filing an HR complaint.
Article continues below this ad
The county’s former Public Health director, Barbie Robinson, who was fired after the Houston Chronicle published an investigation highlighting her questionable relationships with county contractors, sued Harris County on Oct. 15, alleging racial discrimination by Commissioner Adrian Garcia. Robinson claimed she was fired three months after she complained about Garcia’s alleged behavior to human resources. The case is pending.
Suing is not the only way employees of elected officials can pursue their complaints. The Texas Rangers are empowered to investigate allegations of criminal behavior against elected officials.
MORE COVERAGE: Houston judge in viral video ordered a critic to appear in court. A dozen lawyers showed up instead.
The agency confirmed on March 17 that it was investigating Magnolia Mayor Matthew Dantzer after the city secretary filed an HR complaint alleging he assaulted her outside a Fort Worth hotel late last year. The city’s former HR director also filed a lawsuit accusing city officials of harassing her while she investigated the secretary’s complaint.
The city hired an outside firm to investigate the secretary’s complaint, but the results were inconclusive. The city attorney said at a March 10 meeting that state law prohibited officials from firing or otherwise suspending an elected official. Dantzer was arrested Tuesday.
Article continues below this ad
Lawyers wait outside the locked 215th District Court at the Harris County Criminal Justice Center in Houston, Thursday, April 9, 2026.
Raquel Natalicchio/Houston Chronicle
Complaints against judges
Accounts of judges lashing out at attorneys in court are a storied tradition, but judicial temperament has changed over the years — for the better, said defense attorney James Stafford.
Stafford, who ignored Milliron’s request to appear in court after challenging the judge’s treatment of the county employee, said the judge’s behavior was especially bad because it was aimed at someone who works for the courts.
“We’re old school — we’re used to judges being rude to us,” said Stafford, who has practiced law in Texas since 1973. “But they weren’t mean-spirited. They would chew us out for not getting our motion filed on time or being late.”
Article continues below this ad
The typical avenue to complain about a judge is through the judicial commission.
Stafford has not filed a complaint against Milliron, and it’s not known if anyone else has since the video drew scrutiny. The commission can act on its own to investigate a judge, like it did last year to reprimand state District Judge Natalia Cornelio over her handling of a death row case — a sanction that a tribunal of judges is currently reviewing.
Commission investigations, however, can take months before a public sanction, if any, is announced. Judges can be suspended, forced to undergo training or blocked from presiding over cases after leaving office. Private sanctions, a decision that details a judge’s behavior online without identifying them, are another option.
The commission has issued public sanctions against eight elected judges in Harris County since 2016, records show.
In 2024, a complaint against a sitting judge unfolded publicly. A court reporter, Gail Rolen, complained to the judicial commission that Judge Kelli Johnson had created a hostile workplace in the 178th District Court.
Around the same time, judicial leaders reassigned Johnson’s docket in the wake of two traffic stops involving suspicion of intoxication, and authorities investigated damage to her courtroom. One of the traffic stops led to a misdemeanor charge against Johnson, which prosecutors later dismissed.
It’s not known if Rolen involved HR. At the time, she said she took leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act — a process that requires county approval — as the behavior escalated. Her complaint with the commission did not result in any known sanction against the judge.
Johnson’s attorney later attributed the judge’s behavior to a brain injury.
Rolen transferred to another court following the complaint and Johnson remains on the bench, having won her re-election bid later that year without a Republican opponent.
A core Texas philosophy
It’s difficult to hold elected officials accountable for their behavior, but Sims said that’s rooted in the Texas Constitution.
People chosen to represent the will of the voters are accountable only to the voters, she said. While criminal offenses and judicial misconduct can result in a removal from office, it’s a rare outcome limited by practical considerations, such as lengthy legal proceedings that can often conclude after an official has left office.
“There are states that elect a governor and everybody else is appointed,” Sims said. “But in Texas – and we all complain about this come Election Day – we have our long ballots. But it’s a core Texas philosophy.”
Texas’ 1876 Constitution was heavily informed by Reconstruction-era efforts to decentralize authority across elected officials, a philosophy that emphasizes the rights of the individual and warns against centralized authority.
“They insisted on keeping every office independent. That way you weren’t ever in danger of consolidating too much power in any one person’s hands,” Sims said. “One-hundred-plus years later, we’re questioning whether that was the best method, and that question comes up most often around judicial positions.”