In the fallout of a tragic death of a dog earlier this week, a San Jose union has raised concerns that management at the city’s animal shelter may scapegoat or retaliate against employees, accusing the city’s response of exhibiting “shades of coverup” and demonstrating a similar pattern and practice that contributed to Monday’s failures in what some employees have described as a toxic environment at the shelter.
An animal care attendant at Animal Care and Services reported finding a dog named Lola tangled in an IV line and with a leash wrapped around her neck, cutting off circulation to her leg and suffocating her at the same time. Although the attendant was able to free Lola, she had difficulty reaching management and connecting her to emergency medical care before the dog died.
In a letter to Public Works Director Matt Loesch, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees representative John Tucker questioned some of the city’s tactics as it launched an investigation into the animal’s death and speculated whether the city was more focused on damage control than transparency given the voluminous history of alleged retaliation against employees for speaking out.
“This was a leadership failure, but we’re concerned leadership is going to do everything they can to place blame on the frontlines and take it away from themselves, which is where we believe it belongs, not just for this incident but for others,” AFSCME representative John Tucker said in an interview with The Mercury News.
The death of Lola has stoked furor both in the community and at City Hall, where Mayor Matt Mahan called for significant reforms at the shelter as it attempts to improve its already tattered reputation and deficiencies highlighted in a scathing audit last year.
The audit, which was sparked by an uptick in animal deaths and complaints, resulted in 39 recommendations to improve animal welfare and overcapacity issues. While shelter officials have stated the facility is progressing on implementing the recommendations, animal advocates continued to blast them last week for what they believed was a failure to address the underlying issues that caused the shelter to deteriorate.
Lola’s death heightened concerns again, with many questioning whether the shelter failed to follow the Association of Shelter Veterinarians’ guidelines for tethering and emergency medical care.
While she could not go into the specifics of the investigation, shelter spokesperson Kari Chinn said the City Manager’s Office of Employee Relations would conduct an internal review, while the University of California at Davis would conduct an independent examination that is expected to be completed in the coming weeks.
Chinn also denied the general claims Tucker referenced in his letter to the city.
“The city takes all concerns seriously and addresses them through appropriate channels,” Chinn said. “While we reject generalized claims of a ‘culture of retaliation and intimidation,’ specific concerns that have been brought forward have been reviewed in line with established City processes.”
However, Tucker and former staff members at the shelter paint a completely different picture.
“Broadly speaking, we get more complaints about retaliation from the shelter than really any other department in the city,” Tucker said. “There’s a history of workers who speak out about things that are wrong, who are retaliated against either by being pushed out, outright fired, or given a bad schedule, so they just quit.”
Tucker said that last year, an evening coordinator who would have handled a situation like what happened with Lola was released from his probationary period before he could become a protected employee after speaking out.
“That position is vacant this day, and there’s also two vacancies for shelter coordinators, who would be responsible for picking up the phone in an emergency or being on-site and in the night time,” Tucker said. “Now, they’re putting it off on the animal care attendants who don’t have that level of experience or authority to handle that stuff, so it’s a pressure cooker of their own creation.”
In public meetings and emails to city officials last year, a former registered vet tech named Rachel Ivanov also alleged retaliation after she confided in city administration members about issues she witnessed.
Although her situation differed from that of other employees, Whitney Rosche, a former animal care attendant, said she felt retaliated against for missing time due to illness, demonstrating the same pattern of poor leadership and a lack of accountability.
“I was let go after missing a week due to pneumonia, which I felt was unfair, especially since I always made it clear how much I adored the animals,” Rosche said. “I broke down crying when I was let go because I cared so much about the animals, but it still didn’t matter, even though we were already so short-staffed.”
In an email to staff this week, Deputy Director Jay Terrado asked employees to withhold judgment for the time being as the city conducts its investigation and stressed he has an open door if employees had concerns.
Chinn added that the city was committed to “fostering a respectful and safe work environment” and noted there were internal and anonymous channels to report concerns.
However, based on past acts, Tucker said the city’s words were purely “performative” and that he was dubious of its intent to truly address what he believed were systemic issues at the shelter.
“Whatever they are doing on the audit recommendations falls far short,” Tucker said. “It’s just disheartening to know that this could have been prevented and unfortunately, this will happen again.”
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