2023-09-29 Merit Appeals Board Minutes

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Merit Appeals Board September 29, 2023 MS. DE SOTO: Second. CHR. CABANAS: Thank you, Ms. De Soto. Any discussion? MS. MATHEWS: I, actually, am disheartened by this letter. And I think we all need to take note that somehow we are coming across in a way that I don't think any of us intend to. And I'm not sure what the next step would beI think that would be something you would know better. But, well—yes, we will accept it. It's discouraging that this individual's made to feel that way. CHR. CABANAS: I agree. It's one thing to request cancelling or withdrawing an appeal that's one thing. But what made me feel sad was that he says, "At the last board meeting, when they were trying to set a date for the appeal, it felt like I was on trial and had done something wrong." He has not done anything wrong. We were trying to schedule the hearing and Board members were not available on certain dates, and then the Appellant was not available on one particular date. And then, I remember us taking a pause upon the advice of our Assistant Corporation Counsel for us to review our calendars. So, he sat there waiting for us to set the hearing date. That was that's my recollection. The other thing I noticed with the Appellant is he didn't realize that his hearing would be a formal hearing process. And that's why I went at length to explain to him that his witness—he would need to bring witnesses. I asked him about having a union representative because he listed Jodi Sumera as the HGEA representative for the hearing. And then, I explained to him that his witnesses would have to wait outside—he didn't know all of that. I could tell by his body language, his facial expressions that he didn't realize it was a formal hearing. And I could sense his uncomfortableness with all of that. So, that's why I, kind of, like took some time to explain to him. And the other part that he says here in his email to Glynis was, quote, "I do not want to go thru the process when I feel I am being questioned negatively about my work function, duties, or capabilities"—end quote. During an appeal hearing, it would be normal for us to question his work performance not performance but his work duties, who's assigning it, et cetera. I'm not sure what's going on in this division but I sense that they were giving him work, beyond his class, which is on the department shoulders and he's doing whatever they're asking him to do because of his motivated attitude—he has a good, probably a good work ethic. That's what I think is going on. So, this really bothers me from an HR standpoint. And I'm not focusing on the reallocation, I'm just focusing on what he was feeling and that he withdrew this request. Any comments, J, as to MR. KUNZ: Yeah. Well, I have one comment. I'm sorry. Page 6