Security guards quit over claims of hostile work environment at state Education Department
Tallahassee FL April 12 2019
Six security guards walked off the job at the Department of Education after their complaints about derogatory language, racial slurs and other behavior creating a hostile work environment went unanswered.
The contracted guards, led by Timothy Hightower, submitted a “unified resignation letter” on Feb. 27, giving the DOE more than two weeks notice that they were leaving.
“We had been going through some horrible working environment situations and harassment” by their DOE supervisor, Hightower said. She was dismissed a week after the guards turned in their resignation.
He told the Tallahassee Democrat that the supervisor, Kimberly Sadler, allegedly called his African-American lieutenant “a gorilla” and made racial slurs at his two Asian guards, nicknaming one of them “Chopsticks.”
“She categorically denies what they are saying,” said Gary Printy, Sadler’s lawyer. “That never happened.”
Sadler, 40, was earning $72,600 a year at the time of her separation on March 6, DOE confirmed. The single, widowed mother resigned after the DOE told her it was in her best interest to do so, Printy said, adding that he was surprised by the way DOE is handling this.
“If someone made these kinds of charges against my agency, we’d fight them,” Printy said. “They’re conceding this lady was engaged in this type of behavior, that these people are right and entitled to all kinds of damages.”
The guards worked for G4S Secure Solutions, a private security contractor that has had $22.7 million in contracts with the state, and has a political action committee that has contributed thousands of dollars to state and congressional candidates over the years.
The DOE has paid G4S $1.55 million for armed and unarmed guards since 2015.
The DOE said the resignation letter from the guards, emails and other communications about the guards and Sadler, and communications related to the investigation of an alleged complaint, were exempt from public records law.
“A complaint of misconduct filed with an agency against an agency employee and all information obtained pursuant to an investigation … is confidential and exempt” until the investigation is over, state statute reads, or the subject of the complaint is notified in writing the investigation is over.
Once it concludes its investigation, the agency has two options — it can conclude there is no reason to proceed with disciplinary action or charges, or it can find reason to take disciplinary action or file charges.
If she is cleared by the investigation, Printy said, “I’ll think of some way to hold them (DOE) to account.”
Because of their status as contract workers, Hightower and his coworkers have few if any of the same legal protections as regular employees. They have contacted Tallahassee law firm Fasig Brooks and put them on retainer as they consider filing a whistleblower lawsuit, Hightower said.
The guards also kept their parent company abreast of their working conditions and filed three separate complaints since November.
“They told us to just live with it … or we wouldn’t have jobs,” Hightower said. “It’s a tough position to be in. The person your complaint is with is the same person who holds the contract.”
According to Hightower, Sadler had been in talks with G4S Secure Solutions to hire her in their North Carolina Office. “As long as that was going on there were no problems,” he said.
Sadler confirmed through her lawyer that she had applied for a job with G4S after her husband died.
After the job fell through in October, she started mistreating the security guards, Hightower said, calling them names and creating a hostile work environment, saying she could get away with it because she held their contract.
Printy said that Sadler always conducted herself in a professional manner even after she was not offered the job.
After the six filed their resignation letter, officials came from the G4S office in Jacksonville to escort them out of the DOE building, he said.
“When we gave our two weeks, our supervisor came over and escorted me out of the building, told me I was terminated and took my equipment,” Hightower said. “Later that evening he did the same thing with my officers.”
A call to Arthur Newsome, his supervisor at G4S Secure Solutions, went unanswered.
The DOE supposedly began investigating the complaint the day they filed the letter of resignation, Hightower said.
“You’re stuck. No matter what you do it’s going to be bad,” Hightower said. “Everybody had a choice. We could not continue working there.”
tallahassee.com
