A group of former employees are accusing district officials of firing them last month for a sick-out that the workers — all members of the Department of Climate and Safety — say they didn’t participate in.
The four employees — Jon Hamilton, Clyde Casados, Letitia Ramirez and Chris Martinez — were among 28 workers in the Climate and Safety Department who did not attend work on Oct. 15. All four were fired from DPS on Nov. 17 and are asking the district to reinstate them as sergeants in the department.
“These folks have been dedicated employees of the district,” said Fiona Boomer, executive director of , a union that represents employees in the department. “They just want their jobs back so that they can continue to do the great work that they are doing.”
The DPS Board of Education is scheduled to vote during a public meeting Thursday on whether to approve the four employees’ termination.
Board President Xóchitl Gaytán said the vote is part of the meeting’s consent agenda, which is a collection of multiple actions that directors typically approve with a single vote, without discussion, at the recommendation of the superintendent.
“We do not govern through operational matters,” she said. “That item is an operational matter in that it is (a human resources) and legal issue.”
DPS spokesman Scott Pribble said in a statement Thursday that the 28 employees who missed work on Oct. 15 “conducted a coordinated ‘sick-out’ to protest a personnel matter within the department.” The protest, he said, required DPS to call in off-duty employees and work with the Denver Police Department to make sure students’ safety wasn’t at risk.
“After confirming coverage was secure, DPS promptly investigated,” Pribble said. “Based on the results, DPS dismissed employees found to have participated in the sick-out because the conduct violated their duty to student safety, the terms of their employment, and applicable provisions of the collective bargaining agreement.”
Boomer accused DPS leaders of “union-busting,” saying that administrators fired the only group of employees — sergeants — not represented by AFT, but who are trying to unionize. Boomer also denied that the district’s accusation that employees in the department had organized a sick-out on Oct. 15.
“We believe that the district knew that group was working to unionize,” she said.
Pribble, in his statement, denied DPS leaders were aware the sergeants were trying to unionize.
“Claims of ‘union busting’ are unequivocally false and absurd on their face,” Pribble said. “Given the fact that DPS already recognizes one managerial union, these sergeants’ claims to the contrary should not be well taken.”
The sergeants’ termination letters, which were reviewed by The Denver Post, confirm that the sick-out and their supposed participation are why Ramirez, Hamilton, Casados and Martinez were fired.
“It was a surprise,” Martinez said of his termination.
Boomer said the other 24 employees who missed work were represented by the union and DPS disciplined those workers in other ways, such as by suspending them. AFT represents campus security officers, armed patrol and dispatch employees at DPS.
The 28 employees who missed work that day were sick or had pre-approved vacation or personal time off, Boomer said.
Ramirez and Hamilton said they had approval from DPS Chief of Climate and Safety Greg Cazzell to take a mental health day on Oct. 15, which Boomer said was the same day that a lieutenant placed on leave in April returned to work. Employees in the department had previously filed complaints about the lieutenant for violating district harassment polices, Boomer said.
“We mentioned that we would need to take a day here or there for mental health, and the chief (Cazzell) agreed and said that’s the least he owes us,” Hamilton said.
Casados and Martinez said they missed work on Oct. 15 for medical reasons.
All four former employees denied knowing there was an organized sick-out.
“I don’t know where it started,” Ramirez said, adding that she first heard of the protest when she received a call from human resources when she missed work.
