A lawyer for Argelio E. "Frank" Rodriguez Jr. says the department leaders are retaliating against her client because he reported discriminatory remarks.
By SHANNON TAN
Published January 15, 2004
LARGO - The Fire Department continues to retaliate against firefighter Argelio E. "Frank" Rodriguez Jr. because he reported discriminatory remarks, his attorney contended Wednesday.
In a formal notice of intent to sue, Rodriguez's attorney, Diane Bailey, claims that Chief E. Caroll Williams and Deputy Chief Jeffrey Bullock have created a hostile work environment by "disparaging" him publicly.
Williams and Bullock deny the allegations, which are only the latest development in a fast-spreading controversy over discrimination in the department.
Rodriguez, who is Cuban, alleges that on Oct. 7, Lt. Edward Sajdak Jr. referred to him as a Puerto Rican who was "too stupid" to use a cell phone correctly. An argument followed, and Rodriguez was disciplined.
A human resources investigation concluded that Sajdak should be fired for the comments and for retaliating against Rodriguez in a performance review. Sajdak, 55, resigned Monday. The investigation has not exonerated Rodriguez, who was suspended and ordered to attend anger management classes.
On Tuesday, Bailey said, she filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Florida Commission on Human Relations on behalf of Rodriguez.
Bailey alleges that in a Jan. 9 meeting of lieutenants, Bullock intimated that Rodriguez was "disloyal and simply out to get Sajdak."
Such a portrayal is "ludicrous," Bailey said. Rodriguez "wanted to try to handle this in-house. He didn't want this to be blown out of proportion."
Bullock denies saying anything negative about Rodriguez.
"It sounds to me I should be hiring an attorney to sue her for slander," he said.
Bullock says he talked to supervisors in the department to ensure that Rodriguez's "work rights are not violated by monitoring it to make sure that there is no retaliation."
Bailey also objects to a comment Williams made in a St. Petersburg Times story Tuesday. Williams said: "The officer (Sajdak) was wrong in making those comments but it was used as a trump card to get the discipline (against Rodriguez) dropped and we don't do business that way."
In a letter to Mayor Bob Jackson, Bailey wrote, "Chief Williams' remarks will certainly have a chilling effect on any other firefighter that needs to report discriminatory remarks. By publicly denouncing and denigrating my client, Chief Williams has sent the message that my client was wrong to report discrimination."
Williams said he based his statement on a phone call he received from International Association of Firefighters Local 2427 president Tim Baker the night before Rodriguez's Oct. 10 disciplinary hearing.
Baker told him "there was a trump card" if the discipline against Rodriguez wasn't dropped, Williams said. And it wasn't until after the hearing concluded, Williams says, that Rodriguez provided details about the derogatory comment.
Williams recalls Rodriguez saying: "I'm not happy with the way the hearing went, so I want to tell you what was said."
But on Wednesday, Baker denied using the term "trump card."
"It appears to me that the fire chief is looking to shift blame on somebody for his statements and actions," Baker said. "Any conversation I had with the fire chief that evening did not entail the words of a "trump card' being used."
Initially, Williams and Bullock interviewed Sajdak and a firefighter who witnessed the incident, but they did not find that ethnicity-related comments were made. And even after the human resources investigation was complete, Williams had not decided whether Sajdak should have been terminated, demoted, or suspended. Sajdak resigned before such a decision was made, Williams said.
Sajdak is the third lieutenant in less than 15 months to leave the department after allegations about inappropriate comments at work.
"It has to stop," Williams said. "We can't afford to keep losing valuable employees."
Lt. Brian McCrea resigned in November 2002 amid accusations that he made offensive remarks about women, days after Lt. Jeannine Horton was fired for making comments that included, "I hate n------."
