By Dan Gephart, February 15, 2022
Within 24 hours of receiving an unwelcome picture of a sexual nature from a coworker, EMT Andrea Vasquez was fired.
For sexual harassment.
How does something like that happen?
Vasquez v. Express Ambulance Service, 835 F.3d 267 (2d Cir. 2016) is a private sector case. And it’s a few years old now. Yet, it vividly illustrates what happens when an employer relies on evidence of questionable validity. Vasquez is also an example of lazy investigation and victim-blaming. It is one of many cases that will be discussed during Workplace Investigations Week. The virtual training event runs from February 28-March 4, and will focus on employee misconduct, including workplace harassment.
Here are the details:
Ambulance dispatcher Tyrell Gray flirted regularly with Vasquez. This included touching her shoulders, putting his arm around her, and asking her out. Vasquez regularly rebuffed Gray’s advances. One night, Vasquez reminded Gray that she had a boyfriend. Gray told her that he “could make her leave her man” and promised to send her something during her shift.
Common parlance for what Gray sent Vasquez is as crude as the actual action – a naked picture that made famous people like Brett Favre and Anthony Weiner infamous. Gray captioned the photo with “Wat u think?”
When her shift ended, Vasquez reported the photo incident to her supervisor, who told her to file a complaint right away. Gray saw a visibly shaken Vasquez filling out paperwork and surmised that she was reporting him. He left the room and asked a coworker to lie to supervisors that Vasquez and Gray had a romantic relationship. The coworker declined, and Gray left the building.
Vasquez filed the report. An HR official and supervisor thanked her and assured her that they won’t tolerate this behavior and that they would “sort the situation out.” Vasquez offered to show them the phone messages, but they declined.
The employer’s response sounds reasonable so far, right? Not so fast.
Gray altered a text chain with another woman to make it look like he and Vasquez were having a romantic relationship, and then provided copies of that altered text chain to a supervisor to “prove” that he and Vasquez were dating.
By the time Vasquez was to meet with a committee that included a union rep, the HR official, and the owner of the company, Gray’s “evidence” had already been considered, and Vasquez was told that that she had been terminated for having an “inappropriate sexual relationship” with Gray.
The investigation was certainly prompt, though it was clearly far from effective. What can agencies learn from this debacle? Here are a few points to consider:
- Gather sufficient evidence to establish uncontested facts in case. How was reviewing the alleged harasser’s text messages consider sufficient, while refusing to review the complainant’s phone?
- Gather as much evidence as possible on contested facts so the fact finder can reasonably draw conclusions. Beyond looking only at the alleged harasser’s text chain, why was the coworker asked to lie not interviewed?
- Consider the reliability of the evidence. The fact that the alleged harasser just happened to have photocopies of amorous email exchanges on the very morning that he’s accused of harassment should have been important to the fact finder in drawing conclusions.
And remember this: Failure to appropriately investigate claims of harassment will come back to bite you.
Vasquez filed a retaliation complaint. Although a district court granted Express Ambulance Service’s motion to dismiss, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals reversed that decision.
In its decision, the court wrote:
“Although Vasquez does not use the term “negligence” in her complaint, we conclude that she has pled facts from which a reasonable person could infer that Empress knew or should have known that Gray’s accusations were the product of retaliatory intent and thus should not have been trusted.”
What can be trusted is FELTG training. We hope to see you later this month at Workplace Investigations Week. [email protected]
