After the accusation

The day of the accusation, August 07, 2008

On August 7, 2008, at the end of the day Mike Armas told me that he would like to see me and Carolyn Martinez. I thought the discussion will be about an event that took place the previous week, the beef bone issue. I told him that I was about to leave; I was actually back at my desk to take my bag and leave. Carolyn was also in the vicinity. Mike said that he will set up a meeting for the next day. Ten minutes later, while I was on the highway driving home, I received a meeting invitation on my Blackberry for August 8, 2008, at 11:30 AM, in the HR office (Kathi's office). The required attendees were Carolyn Martinez, Mike Armas, and I. The name Mike Armas chose for this meeting is “The Future” (see The Future meeting.pdf document).

The next day in the morning I was working in the lab with Tintin. Mike Armas came in our lab towards 9:00 AM telling us that Carolyn Martinez was late that morning. This was the first time Mike came in the lab to announce that someone was late. Since late June 2008 Mike Armas rarely came in the Applications lab. Carolyn arrived towards 10:00 AM, and she asked how the work was going. I spoke to her. Our conversation was dry. She was in the lab for no more than 5 minutes. I never saw Carolyn again.

At 10:46 AM Mike Armas came in the Applications lab and told me that he would like to see me immediately in Kathi’s office (HR office, the same place of the "The Future" meeting). I remember looking at the clock and telling myself that the “The Future” meeting was still ahead. I got to Kathi’s office one minute later, Mike was already there, alone. He invited me to seat down. I found it strange that Carolyn was not there. He told me that someone had accused me of hostile workplace/sexual harassment, and he read the accusation notice (see attached Accusation.jpg document). After he finished reading it to me he told me that this was a very important and real issue. I told Mike that this was not a real issue, and that “this is bullshit”. I stood up, took the accusation notice from the desk and left the office slamming the door behind me. I was very nervous at that point. I know Mike Armas wanted to fire me, I was expecting some sort of warning from him, some sort of formal path, but I never expected an accusation of this sort. I knew I was innocent and I thought that this is a malicious way to get ride of me. I returned back to the lab to finish the work I was doing, which took me 1-2 minutes. I went back to my desk, got my Laptop and my bag, I looked for Mike, I found him in the IT room with the IT director, I opened the door and nicely told him “You are playing dirty games Mike”. He smiled. I gently closed the door behind me and I walked out. The IT director came out with me, trying to calm me down. He told me that Mike Armas wants my badge, and I gave it to him.

At 17:30 I called Kathi Safford (HR) on her cell. She didn’t answer the phone and I left her a message, basically telling her that the situation was very serious, that Mike Armas gave me a hostile workplace/sexual harassment accusation notice, and that I wanted to speak to her as soon as possible. Kathi did not call me that day of August 7, 2008.

The next day

The day of August 8, 2008, I called again Kathi’s cell phone between 8:30 and 9:00 AM, asking her to call me as soon as possible. After 9:00 I received a phone call from a coworker giving me support and asking how I was going. This person told me that Kathi Safford was in her office with Mike Armas. Because Kathi looked busy at that point in time, I waited for her to call me back, I didn’t want to interfere with her meeting. Kathi called me between 12:00 and 12:30 the same day. I was in the car with two other persons. I had my phone on speaker, loud enough for these persons to hear the conversation. Kathi started by asking me how I was going. I told her that I was going bad, and she answered that she was sorry to here that (I found her tone fake...). She told me that the accusation was about offensive language and sexist comments, and she said after that she could not tell me anything else about this case because of the nature of the investigation. She also told me that we will arrange a conversation where she will question me about the allegations, in a few days. I told Kathi that I found it strange that the accusation notice that I received from Mike Armas was only signed by him, and I asked her when she was first informed about the case. Kathi told me that she received the first formal notice about this case on the morning of August 7, 2008, the same day Mike Armas handed me the accusation notice. It was not clear to me whether she received her notice before or after my meeting with Mike Armas at 10:46 AM. I asked Kathi if she had heard something related to the accusation in any informal way. Her answer was that she had heard something the week before, but that she doesn’t recall exactly the day, because she didn’t record the event. Kathi also told me that during this investigation she will also take into consideration other accusations that came from Carolyn Martinez and Mike Armas, related to my work performance, and to my improper behavior right after Mike Armas gave me the accusation notice (I think that she was referring to me slamming the door behind on the way out). I immediately found this attempt to broaden the case (go in a fishing expedition as my atterny put it) to be unacceptable. I categorically told Kathi during this conversation that during the investigation I will only focus on the accusation of hostile workplace/sexual harassment. She didn’t reply to this.

At around 16:00 PM the same day I also called Robert Waarts to ask for advice. I think that Robert always appreciated my work and we had a very good working relation. I had contacted Robert the previous week telling him that the situation in the Applications lab was becoming unbearable, and I also made him know that I was considering to separate myself from that environment. Robert’s reaction to my email was positive, and I thought that I could trust him. I told Robert that the harassment accusation was unfunded, and that Mike Armas and Carolyn Martinez were using this accusation as a tool to get rid of me. Robert listened to my side of the story and remained very neutral. His reaction was somewhat disappointing to me.

Monday August 11, 2008

At 9:59 AM I send an email to Kathi asking a few questions about the accusation, and telling her that I had left important documents at Raydiance, including the Basic Employment Policies document. I asked Kathi whether she could send me this document. At 1:46 PM I was still waiting for her reply and I sent Kathi another email asking her to respond to my previous email as soon as possible. At 4:30 PM I still had no answer from Kathi and I called her cell phone, asking her again to respond with the information I requested in my emails. It was getting late and because I had no answer from Kathi I decided to call ADP Total Source (HR contractor) to ask for the Basic Employment Policies document. I spoke with Veronica and I only told her that I needed this document. She told me that Kathi Safford was normally supposed to provide it to me. I told Veronica that I had tried to reach Kathi the entire day without success. Veronica insured me that she will contact Kathi and tell her to expedite the documents to me. In the evening Kathi finally responded by email and sent me the Basic Employment Policies (California) document. She did not respond to any of my questions about the case. See this email trail: Communication with Kathi.pdf.

Tuesday August 12, 2008

In the morning I got a call from Tara Olowe, working for ADP Total Source (HR contractor) from Florida. She was very alarmed by my request of the Basic Employment Policies document and she asked what was going on. She didn’t have any idea about the case, and I figured that she got alerted by Veronica. I told her that I was accused by one of my coworkers of hostile workplace/sexual harassment. I also expressed my suspicion related to the fact that the accusation notice was only signed by Mike Armas, and that Kathi apparently learned about it the same morning when I received the accusation notice from Mike Armas. I also told her that I was not comfortable with the way Kathi was conducting the investigation, because she was trying to broaden the case and she was hard to reach. I asked Tara Olowe when ADP was informed about the case. She told me that she didn’t know, and that there was an ADP representative in California that might have been informed already. She told me that she will call this person and call me back later.

Tara Olowe called me back later that afternoon, telling me that my case will be investigated by LaRee Kinney based in Pleasanton CA. She told me that LaRee will contact me the next day. Tara Olowe also told me that when she spoke with LaRee she learned that there was a conference call between Kathi Safford (HR from Raydiance) and LaRee (from ADP), and that they discussed about the case during this conference call. My impression is that ADP Total Source did not know about the case before I spoke with Veronica asking her for the Basic Employment Policies document.

Tara Olowe also said that ADP will take control of the the investigation, and that Kathi could still conduct her parallel investigation if she desired. I felt relieved because I thought that ADP could be more objective than Kathi Safford in conducting this investigation. Tara Olowe also stated that the fact that ADP will conduct the investigation will make me feel better.

Thursday, Aug 14, 2008

I spoke with LaRee Kinney from ADP Total Source (HR contractor) on the phone. I was very impressed by her professionalism and I felt very comfortable during the interview. She told me that the accuser was Carolyn Martinez. This was the first time someone had told me who the accuser was. LaRee also described the three alleged incidents (see the accusation). She went over every incident and she questioned me. I fully cooperated. I also gave her a little bit of background on my relation with Carolyn Martinez. I added that Carolyn never told me that she perceived my language as inappropriate, or that she felt offended by any of my comments. I also told her that nobody else ever told me that Carolyn was offended by me in any way. I also spoke a little about Mike Armas. I told her that I was puzzled by the fact that he acted alone, without Kathi, and that my working relation with Mike was not a good one. I told her in the end that in my view they acted maliciously in retaliation. LaRee didn’t respond to my accusation and I asked her if I could send her more information. She responded positively. I promised to send her some Emails between Carolyn and I. I also told LaRee that there was an atmosphere of mistrust in our lab, and that because of that we got in the habit of documenting almost everything.

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