A former COVID-19-era epidemiological specialist who was fired from the state Health Department after saying “contact tracers” were woefully understaffed and overworked under dangerous conditions faces an arbitration hearing in July, followed by a possible trial over her lawsuit alleging wrongful dismissal.

Jennifer Smith, who is asserting whistleblower protection, sued the state after she was fired in 2021 after the Health Department claimed she posted inappropriate messages on social media and released confidential information, which Smith denies.

She currently lives in Texas and is working as a consultant, although she would not provide further details. Her arbitration is supported by the Hawaii Government Employees Association. She said she doesn’t plan to move back to Hawaii, but is required to appear in person for arbitration, which she said is scheduled to begin July 25.

Smith said the Attorney General’s Office last week sent her an “insulting” settlement offer.

Dave Day, spokesperson for the state Attorney General Department, wrote in an email to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, “Because this involves a personnel matter, the Department of the Attorney General does not make statements about pending legal proceedings.”

But in a 2021, the Attorney General’s Office wrote in a filing that it denied more than 40 of Smith’s allegations, including that she “was subjected to intentional and unlawful harassment, hostile work environment, and retaliation in violation of the Hawai‘i Constitution and laws, after she spoke out as a private citizen on matters of grave public concern regarding the SARS COVID-19 pandemic (the ‘Pandemic’) and DOH’s response to and public statements regarding the Pandemic including, without limitation, DOH’s contact tracing practices and reporting.”

Smith’s concerns about growing caseloads and understaffing belied public statements made by then-state Epidemiologist Sarah Park that Hawaii had nearly 100 contact tracers and enough people to identify new coronavirus cases and isolate anyone infected. Smith said at a 2020 news conference that there were only 10 contact tracers on Oahu and fewer than 20 across the entire state.

Park, who is not a defendant in Smith’s lawsuit, could not be reached for comment last week.

Smith told the Star-­Advertiser in a telephone interview that contact tracers — including five colleagues she worked with at the Department of Health — quickly became overwhelmed and were constantly exposed to potential COVID-19 carriers while collecting samples from cruise ships and people living in overcrowded conditions.

One contact tracer collected samples from 20 people living in a single apartment, Smith said.

Smith said her colleagues also risked exposure by regularly leaving the Health Department office on Punchbowl and Beretania streets to deliver food to COVID-19 patients isolated in hotel rooms and to drive them to and from their hotels before and after isolation.

There was no plan who would resume the work if one of the contact tracers returned to the Health Department and exposed everyone else, Smith claims.

Asked why contact tracers regularly worked long hours and extra days often with no overtime to deliver food and medical supplies, Smith said, “I’m a scientist. I’m not equipped to deal with social services. We all wanted to help people, but we didn’t have the resources to do it.”

In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, Smith said the concerns she shared with her co-workers were ignored.

“We tried,” Smith said. “I emailed. We asked for meetings. We asked for daily briefings. Nothing. Crickets.”

At one point, Smith claims, she was told by her direct supervisor, “If you don’t like it, find another job.”

Smith has published a book titled “Pandemic in Paradise: An Insider’s View of COVID Corruption in Hawai‘i,” published in November by Ballast Books.

Smith said her intention was to write “a historic document” of a bungled response to a global pandemic.

In the middle of the pandemic — with a vaccine still months away — then-Health Director Bruce Anderson in September 2020 abruptly announced his retirement. Four days later Park was placed on leave after being blamed for failing to build an appropriate COVID-19 testing and contract tracing program.

After speaking out about her concerns to the Honolulu media, Smith initially was suspended with pay, also in September 2020.

After being reinstated, Smith was then fired in May 2021 after supervisors accused her of inappropriate social media posts and releasing confidential information.

“It sends a very chilling message to people who see corruption happening,” Smith said. “Their willingness to come forward in the future will definitely be hampered.”