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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes Civil Service Board - 07/23/1999 MINUTES 489th CIVIL SERVICE BOARD MEETING 1201 LEOPARD ST., CITY HALL HUMAN RESOURCES CONFERENCE ROOM July 23, 1999 8:30 a.m. BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT CITY STAFF PRESENT Andrew Lehrman, Chairperson Cynthia C. Garcia, Director of Diana Martinez, Vice Chairperson Human Resources Rixio E. Medina, Member Alex Lopez, Assistant City Attorney Foster Crowell, Wastewater Superintendent The 489th Civil Service Board meeting was called to order at 8:34 a.m. Item#1 Review and approve the minutes of the 488th Civil Service Board meeting held on July 8, 1999. Ms. Martinez moved the minutes be approved as read. Mr. Medina seconded the motion. The motion passed. Item#2 Review and consider the appeal of a 10-day suspension filed by Martin Harwood, Senior Crew Leader. Chair Lehrman identified Mr. Harwood as the appellant. Witnesses were sworn in. City Attorney, Alex Lopez, reported a time constraint for.one of the witnesses and informed the Board that his order of witnesses was not what he would like for it to be. Mr. Lopez said the City planned to prove that Mr. Harwood used a racially derogatory slang term in Spanish towards a co-worker and that the co-worker was offended. Mr. Lopez said this behavior was a violation of Civil Service rules and that there were several witnesses. City's witness, Billy Ray Williams, testified that Mr. Harwood called him a pinche mayate and that he acted like he was mad. Mr. Williams said he asked Pat and Victor if they heard what Mr. Harwood said. Mr. Williams said the term meant nigger. City passed the witness. Mr. Harwood had no questions for Mr. Williams. Chair Lehrman asked Mr. Williams if he and Mr. Harwood had ever had any problems. Mr. Williams said they had had no problems and while they have had discussions before, there had never been any name calling. Mr. Williams said he thought Mr. Harwood resented the fact that he had been promoted. Mr. Williams said there had been no problems with Mr. Harwood after the incident and that Mr. Harwood had apologized. City Witness, Pat Dalagher, testified that he remembered the incident between Mr. Harwood and Mr. Williams on November 24, 1998. He testified that he could hear some arguing and that he heard Mr. Harwood say the word mayate, to which Mr. Williams said, "to you." Mr. Dalagher testified that he heard a rapid animated exchange between the two. City passed the witness. Mr. Harwood had no questions for Mr: Dalagher. Chair Lehrman asked Mr. Dalagher whether the term was offensive to Mr. Williams and he responded yes and said that the employees know what is offensive because they have been told. Vice-Chair M ' asked SCANN!t3 , s,. whether the word had been something other than a racial term whether Mr. Harwood would have been written up for the incident and Mr. Dalagher said no. City witness, Victor Muniz, testified that he recalled that on the morning of the incident there was a problem with traffic and that he was trying to explain to Mr. Harwood and Mr. Williams what the plan of action was. He said as Mr. Harwood walked away, he said "typical mayate." Mr. Muniz said that meant "typical black man," but Mr. Harwood was not supposed to use the word mayate. Mr. Muniz said it could mean nigger. Mr. Muniz said he wrote up the incident. City Attorney presented City Exhibit 1-Employee Incident Report to Martin Harwood dated November 24, 1998. Mr. Muniz testified he prepared the report and gave it to Mr. Harwood. He explained a discrepancy with the dates on the report. Mr. Muniz testified that he ha attended Diversity training and so had everyone else. Mr. Muniz said he was not surprised that the incident occurred, but that when Mr. Harwood said the term he was not speaking directly to Mr. Williams. Chair Lehrman asked Mr. Muniz if Mr. Harwood was allowed an opportunity to include his statement on the form. Mr. Muniz said he was. Mr. Muniz said it was not appropriate for Mr. Harwood to say the word and he did not excuse him. Vice-Chair asked if Mr. Harwood had called him a bastard would he still have written it up, and Mr. Muniz said he would have. City witness, Eduardo Garcia, testified that he and Foster Crowell met with Mr. Harwood sometime in December to discuss the Contemplated Disciplinary Action letter. He said he was also present at the rebuttal hearing. Mr. Garcia testified that Mr. Harwood admitted he was wrong. Mr. Garcia said monthly employee meetings are held to discuss policies and sensitivity issues. Mr. Garcia said Sexual Harassment and Diversity training was last conducted about six months ago. Mr. Garcia explained the process for the rebuttal hearing. Chair Lehrman asked Mr. Garcia what the term mayate meant to him. He said it was a "downgrade to a black," and it was never appropriate. Mr. Garcia said he was not aware of any more problems between the employees. City Attorney presented City.Exhibit 2 - Contemplated Disciplinary Action Letter to Mr. Harwood dated December 14, 1998. City witness, Foster Crowell, explained the disciplinary process and read parts of the contemplated letter. He testified that a rebuttal hearing was held on December 16, 1998. Mr. Crowell testified that Mr. Harwood admitted he said the word and felt sorry about it. He said Mr. Harwood had been trained and wished he hadn't said the word. Mr. Crowell reported that Mr. Harwood said he was not going to appeal the discipline. City Attorney presented City Exhibit 3 -Letter to Civil Service Board. Mr. Crowell testified that a 10-day suspension was justified because there had been lots of training on this issue. City Attorney present City Exhibit 4 - Roster of employees who attended a training session on August 26, 1997. Mr. Crowell testified that Mr. Harwood's signature was on the roster as having attended the training. Mr. Crowell reported that there had been other training sessions as well. Mr. Crowell said there were constant reminders of what is expected of the employees. Mr. Crowell testified that there have been previous incidents that have caused the City some money and that was a factor in this discipline. Mr. Harwood asked Mr. Crowell why nothing happened to the two employees who had an argument and called . each other similar names in front of him and Mr. Wayne Cockroft. Mr. Crowell said he did not recall the incident. Mr. Harwood said he witnessed the incident and it went on for about two hours. Chair Lehrman asked Mr. Crowell what his discipline options were. Mr. Crowell said he could have reduced the suspension or given him more training, but the circumstances warranted the ten day suspension. Mr. Crowell told Vice-Chair Martinez that there were no prior similar incidents by Mr. Harwood, and that there have been other suspensions for racial comments. He told Mr. Medina that this was the first case after the stepped up training. Mr. Crowell testified that after the lawsuits, there was a directive that this type of behavior would not be tolerated and that employees would be terminated for violations. Mr. Crowell testified that the 10-day suspension was recommended by Human Resources and Legal as per the City Manager's.directive. Mr. Crowell said he believed Mr. Harwood had learned his,lesson. City rested. Appellant Exhibit 1 was presented. Mr. Harwood testified that he prepared a statement a few days after the incident. Mr. Harwood said he was appealing the number of days he got because other employees got 5 days and he got 10. He said Mr. Williams and he are friends and he is not a racist. He said he was upset with the work schedule and not at Mr. Williams. Mr. Harwood said Mr. Williams likes to argue and he does not. Mr. Harwood said he said typical mayate, but that could mean a black man or nigger. He said Hispanics usually say mayate when they are upset. Chair Lehrman asked about the other incident Mr. Harwood brought up with Mr. Crowell.. He said he witnessed the incident; but he did not remember whether it happened before or after the training. Mr. Harwood said he learned his lesson and he apologized to Mr. Williams. Appellant rested. City witness, Foster Crowell, testified that Mr. Williams was called as a witness out of order because he was going to an EEOC meeting about the incident with Mr. Harwood. Mr. Crowell said Mr. Williams took the incident serious enough and claimed that the discipline Mr. Harwood received was not enough. The City closed. The board went into closed session at 9:58 a.m. and reconvened at 10:10 a.m. It was moved that Mr. Harwood's appeal be upheld but that the suspension be modified to seven days. Vice- Chair Martinez seconded it and the motion passed. Vice-Chair Martinez told Mr. Harwood that while she did not condone his conduct, she believed he had taken the right steps to correct his behavior. After no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 10:16 a.m. Ft 6-SEMT.Cyn is C. Garcia, Secre Andrew Lehrman, Chair ivil Service Board Ci• .- ice B Diana artinez, Vice-' ha -. RBxio E Medina, Member iv Service Board �� Civil Service Board