Bullied Department of Public Health Employee gets New Management Team

Union representation made all the difference for an employee of the California Department of Public Health in Sacramento whose hostile supervisors had made her work environment unbearable. 

The employee, an office technician at CDPH, had been having a number of issues with her office supervisors including malicious gossip, preferential treatment of others and verbal abuse. The situation came to a head during a fire drill. The employee had her headphones on and didn’t hear the alarm. When the rest of the staff returned to the work area, her supervisor not only reprimanded her for not responding to the alarm, but also said her presence was a distraction to the unit, called her a liar and told her if it were a real fire, she would have “burned up”. 

She reached out to Local 1000, and a member of our representation staff arranged a meeting between the employee and upper management to go over the incident. We were able to persuade management to move her to another unit away from the harassment, and she reports a much improved work environment. 

“This is yet another example of how crucial Local 1000 is for the state workers we represent,” says Tamekia N. Robinson, vice president for organizing/representation. “When you have a union, you have someone to stand up for you.”