A hearing into the termination of a Navajo Nation employee raised a sensitive and controversial subject in Navajo culture.

Evangaline Logg was fired in 2004 after she took a few months off for medical leave. Her supervisor William Nez later claimed he was "protected" by witchcraft, a charge that raised alarms about the case.

Logg sought the help of medicine men, but many refused to get involved, her attorney said. The attorney said his mostly-Navajo staff wouldn't work on the case until the office was blessed.

A tribal attorney, however, said the case is not about witchcraft, but about a firing dispute. The Navajo Department of Justice is defending the case.

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Witchcraft takes center stage at labor hearing (The Gallup Independent 10/19)