Tribalism and Whistleblowing
America’s plunge into tribalism is evident. Amy
Chau devotes a recent book to Political
Tribes. The NY Times’ David Brooks
discusses tribes at nearly every
opportunity. There are others[1].
But these are not tribes as we’ve known them in the
past. The Seminole tribe, for example. They formed in Florida in the 1700s. They had territory, chiefs, particular languages,
and a unique culture. Then they lost out
to white settlers and their government.
The tribes that Chau, Brooks, and many others talk about are
just people who don’t see eye to eye on things.
They might be divided by sex, age, religion, race, or ethnicity. One might follow Bernie and the other
Hillary. One might like Starbucks and
the other Peet’s. Their views differ, and
they can’t really talk about it. A
negotiated agreement isn’t in the cards.
The two sides are at odds the way a whistleblower and his management
are.
The San Diego Unified School District hired Michael
Gurrieri in March 2014 to work as an internal investigator in its Quality
Assurance Office. Already an experienced
investigator, he’d been working in law enforcement for more than 8 years.
In May he was handed a parents’ complaint that their
kindergarten boy had been sexually assaulted by a classmate a year
earlier. Guirrieri found that the school
principal Bruce Ferguson had failed to respond properly to this and other
incidents of sexual harassment. In addition,
allegations emerged that Ferguson abused alcohol during the day and was
generally negligent in performing his duties.
After Gurrieri submitted his report, his bosses directed him
remove references to some of the sexual harassment/assault incidents and to
Ferguson’s negligence and misconduct. He
refused. After some debate, his bosses
presented an abbreviated report to the student’s parents. Ferguson escaped discipline. Unsatisfied with the resolution, the parents
sued the district, which eventually settled their case.
Gurrieri also found other things to complain about. There was a high school coach who verbally
and physically abused students but went undisciplined. Complaints from minorities received biased
treatment. District investigative
policies and procedures were weak. Other
operations and management of the district needed improvement. By October 2014, his boss had enough and gave
him a negative performance review. The district
fired him in November.
In April 2015, he filed complaints with the district board
of education and SDUSD, as required by law.
He also filed complaints with the California State Personnel Board, the
California Labor and Workforce Development Agency, and local police
departments. None of his charges of retaliation,
improper government activities and legal violations helped him.
That is probably no surprise. He’s not part of the government tribe. The California State Auditor reports annually
on disclosures of possible improper activities by state employees and agencies. According to its July 2018 report, it
received 1,331 calls about suspected wrongdoing during the preceding year. That year, 15 employees were disciplined
following investigations. In the six
years leading up to June 2018, 8,582 complaints were submitted, and just 53 resulted
in discipline for any state employee[2]. We’re not talking peers in a group here. We’re talking distinct tribes of complainers
and authority.
Once I started making my
complaints against HomeFirst
Services of Santa Clara County, I found a lot. In defense of
its retaliation against me, HomeFirst whined that each time they tried to
fix one issue, I’d present another. Even
more annoying, it said, I always thought my view of the problem was
right. Their explanations and requests
for more analysis were never justified in my mind. It was like we weren’t on the same team, or
tribe, at all.
I like Gurrieri because he seems familiar – he, too, was a
serial complainer, sure he was right. It’s
hard to know exactly when he decided the SDUSD was too screwed up to trust, but
after six months he was clearly there. He
was certain Ferguson deserved to be disciplined. SDUSD was just as certain he was wrong. No one covered up any wrongdoing, SDUSD
claimed. Like me, Gurrieri was fired for
his poor job performance. That is the
most popular company defense[3]
against charges of retaliation.
He sued the school district after authorities denied his
complaints. Three years later a jury
soundly rejected his claim that he exposed illegal cover-ups of wrongdoing
by Ferguson. A future retrial may decide
whether the district retaliated against Gurrieri for whistleblowing.
Following the loss, his attorney bragged, “The primary goal
[of the trial] was to expose what was going on. He accomplished that. We will re-try the case and more people will
learn about it and things may change at the district.” That’s putting lipstick thick on the pig.
The Seminole, too, were impotent in dealing with the government. An 1823 treaty moved them from 24 million
acres to 100,000 acres in Florida. Then an
1832 treaty forced them from their historical home to a patch of land – now 400,000
largely unproductive acres – in Oklahoma.
When competing tribes battle, each expects to dictate terms
to the other, but just one wins. The
Seminole lost. Like most whistleblowers,
I
lost. I hope my pessimism about Gurrieri’s
chances is proved wrong.
[1]
For example, “A
Liberal Defense of Tribalism” in Foreign Policy, a speech on “The
Age of Outrage” by social psychologist Jonathon Haidt, “The
Tribalism of Truth” in Scientific American,
and “Tribalism
Triumphs in America” by The Washington Post’s Michael Gerson.
[3] 44%
of the companies identified in the State of California determination
letters in 2016 claimed the complainants were fired for poor performance.
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