It was yet another dramatic day in court for the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency.
On Thursday, day four of the trial against the agency, brought about by former senior parking enforcement officer Elias Georgopoulos, parking officials were asked: What do you do with an angry employee?
Georgopoulos is accusing city officials of failing to address harassment, racism, and discrimination at the agency’s parking-enforcement division. Georgopoulos got a new trial this week after his first case, which started in late April, ended in a mistrial.
A lack of internal conflict resolution at the agency, Georgopoulos’ attorney said today, allowed a culture of harassment to fester that eventually led his client to be targeted by racist jabs and retaliation.
Georgopoulos, who is Latino, was allegedly called multiple slurs by other parking enforcement officers, told to speak English in the office and berated for his height; he is 5 feet, 6 inches tall.
But testimony over the past few days has revealed that coworkers recommended anger-management classes at least twice to Georgopoulos. The SFMTA has tried to portray Georgopoulos as quick to launch angry tirades, and Georgopoulos has a track record: In 2011, he was sued for attacking a tow truck driver, who filed a restraining order against him, and for harassing another employee, which was dismissed. Georgopoulos remained employed by the SFMTA for another nine years.
The SFMTA tried, for its part, to dispel the narrative that it does not do enough to mitigate conflict.
Viktorya Wise, the director of its streets division, took the stand Thursday to answer a series of questions on what measures the SFMTA has taken to mitigate complaints of harassment made by employees.
“I want [parking enforcement officers] to have a positive workplace culture,” said Wise. SFMTA has counselors available for employees, she said, and had asked Georgopoulos to take anger-management courses. If that fails, employees have a “progressive discipline process” that eventually leads to termination.
But when pressed further, Wise stated that she “has no idea” whether she can compel employees to take anger-management courses.
And James Lee, a former deputy director of parking enforcement who also took the stand, said that when a former consultant emailed him to provide conflict-resolution classes for Georgopoulos and another employee whom Georgopoulos said harassed him, he was at a loss.
“We don’t have conflict-resolution classes,” said Lee, who had also said during the trial on Tuesday that another employee recommended conflict resolution to Georgopoulos. “I looked to HR for guidance, and I might have told him it was recommended, but I didn’t have a class to give him.”
When he eventually found a class through the Employee Assistance Program, a representative told him that classes were voluntary, and the matter was dropped.
Georgopoulos has claimed he had disagreements with the current director of parking enforcement, Shawn McCormick, over Georgopoulos wearing a body-worn camera at work after coworkers allegedly began harassing him. Wearing a body cam inside the office goes against city policy.
Georgopolous alleges that McCormick called him a “spic” in a heated argument before he resigned. Lee said that he told Georgopoulos to “hide out in the parking lot” to avoid McCormick. “Most incidents occurred at the office,” Lee said.
In the last year of Georgopoulos’ tenure at the SFMTA, there were numerous arguments involving Georgopoulos and coworkers, both city attorneys and Georgopoulos’ lawyer, Eduardo Roy, said.
In one instance, during a disagreement with a coworker named Joyce Nelson, a senior SFMTA clerk, Georgopoulos alleges that Nelson insinuated that her friends would come find him because she knew his address.
In another, Georgopoulos described being repeatedly harassed for his height and disability, ridiculed, and physically threatened by another parking enforcement officer, Sterling Haywood.
Georgopoulos alleges another employee shouted “Speak English!” at him, after he spoke in Spanish with a work colleague.
Georgopoulos was written up for the argument with Nelson for “yelling at a subordinate,” but his legal team argues that no measures were taken against the other employees, even though Georgopoulos complained to management.
“Did Mr. Georgopoulos receive a written warning because he is a Latino man?” asked the city attorney to Wise. “No,” replied Wise.
“Was it because he had a disability?” asked the attorney. “No,” she responded.
“Was it because of his conduct in March of 2020?” the city attorney asked, referring to his argument with Nelson. “Yes,” said Wise.
Georgopoulos’ attorney Roy, shooting up from his seat and approaching the bench, countered: “Joyce Nelson was not issued a written warning, correct?” After Wise confirmed that to be true Roy said, “No further questions, Your Honor.”
As the trial draws to a close, tensions are beginning to rise between the legal teams.
During the last 20 minutes of Lee’s testimony, Roy seemingly made a backhanded attempt to impugn the defense.
“Were you offered $250 when you were first questioned about the case?” Roy asked Lee, the former deputy director.
Lee said that the city’s investigator had told him she had a check for him, but had forgotten it. “Did you ever receive it?” asked Roy. “No,” Lee replied, “I never received it.”
San Francisco Superior Court Judge Daniel Flores was forced to explain to the jury that the $250 fee was required by the California Code of Civil Procedure for transportation and expenses, and was not a bribe to appear in court.
Roy was subsequently berated by his counterparts from the city attorney’s office.
“You have a lot of nerve, accusing my team of ethical violations, Mr. Roy,” scolded one attorney, pointing at Roy.
Yet Roy and his legal team walked out the building with smiles on their faces.
“We’re optimistic,” said Roy, outside the courtroom.
sounds like a shit show