On the ninth day in the trial of Elias Georgopoulos’ suit against the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, six of Georgopoulos’ former co-workers took the stand and described him as, actually, kind of a jerk.
Georgopoulos alleges the agency allowed him to be harassed and discriminated against for being short, Latino, and walking with a limp. But on Monday, five parking-enforcement officers and one payroll clerk testified that they had either witnessed or been on the receiving end of harassment and discrimination from Georgopoulos himself during his tenure as a supervising parking-enforcement officer at SFMTA’s 505 Seventh St. location.
These stories overlap with Georgopoulos’ in one regard : Every SFMTA employee who has taken the stand so far has described it as a place where bullying was not uncommon, and where management did little to correct this behavior. Their stories diverge on the question of who the bully is.
Georgopoulos’ suit accuses the City and County of San Francisco of allegedly permitting SFMTA to be the kind of workplace where management ignored the alleged harassment he faced at the hands of his coworkers and his boss, parking-enforcement director Shawn McCormick.
Georgopoulos alleges McCormick called him a “spic” during a heated exchange, which McCormick denies, and that he was so scared of McCormick and fellow SFMTA employee Sterling Haywood that he started wearing a body camera, and would sometimes spend his entire shift out in the parking lot, hiding from them.
Georgopoulos says his many written reports to management about McCormick and Haywood went unanswered. During Monday’s testimony, Georgopoulos’ former coworkers said that their reports were also ignored: Their reports about him.
Last week, Haywood described filing multiple reports against Georgopoulos for yelling at him and at other subordinates, mainly Black employees, and vehemently denied Georgopoulos’ claims that Haywood had harassed him, called him names, and even screamed in his ear, causing his ear to ring.
Testimony this week from multiple SFMTA staff members who work in the parking-enforcement office dovetails with Haywood’s. When Georgopoulos allegedly yelled at staff, they were forced to simply walk away. There had been allegations of Georgopoulos harassing staff for years, but many written complaints went unanswered, and Georgopoulos remained employed by the agency for decades.
During prior testimony, Georgopoulos accused Joyce Nelson, a payroll clerk at SFMTA, of threatening him by saying that she “knew his address.” On Monday, Nelson, who is Black, testified that, in the moments leading up to this exchange, she was having a pleasant conversation with two coworkers about a parking enforcement officer’s upcoming baby shower.
She looked over to see Georgopoulos staring at her from across the hall. Nelson, unsettled, moved down the hallway with her coworkers to avoid him, but Georgopoulos followed her.
“‘You’re talking about me,’” Nelson remembered Georgopoulos accusing her, raising his voice. She described moving again, but Georgopoulos continued to follow, yelling behind her. Two of Nelson’s coworkers took the stand to corroborate her story, and testified that they followed behind Nelson and Georgopoulos to ensure her safety.
Kynattah Hill, the coworker who was about to celebrate her baby shower, testified that she was concerned for Nelson’s well-being. “Those actions were personal,” testified Hill. “They weren’t like a supervisor. I wouldn’t expect that to come from a workplace.”
Nelson, who is more than a decade older than Georgopoulos, told the jury she began to yell back at him, which only made things worse. “‘Who do you think you are talking to?’” She remembers responding. “‘I am not your child, I am not your daughter, I am not your son.’”
Nelson then ran into Lee’s office. “‘This is what I’ve been telling you,” Nelson remembers scolding Lee, as Georgopoulos banged on the closed door.
“There had been many incidents [with Georgopoulos], and nothing would ever happen,” said Nelson. “I was nervous. I was scared. No one checked in on me … so I wrote a statement and submitted it to the MTA.”
Nelson testified that she was so alarmed, she stayed at a friend’s house that night out of fear. But at this, she was cut off by Georgopoulos’ lawyer.
Though Georgopoulos received a written warning for his interaction with Nelson, he was not fired, suspended or took anger management courses, though that was recommended. But on the stand, coworkers testified that Georgopoulos had a reputation of being a violent and angry man.
“I have seen him scream before,” Hill said, “I was concerned for my own safety because I was pregnant at the time, and because of my prior interactions with him — ” at this, Hill, too, was cut off by Georgopoulos’ lawyer.
All odious tales of Georgopoulos’ behavior prior to 2017 are inadmissible in this trial, according to San Francisco Superior Court Judge Daniel Flores. Court records and past reporting reveal that, in 2010, Georgopoulos was sued for sexual harassment by a fellow parking-control officer, who was granted a settlement. The very next year, he was sued for violence against another coworker, who was granted a restraining order against him. His coworker’s suit alleges that Georgopoulos was regularly violent towards other SFMTA employees. Prior to that, another restraining order was filed against him for attacking a limousine driver, who testified that Georgopoulos sprayed him with pepper spray and punched him in the head.
Last week, Haywood alluded to Georgopoulos’ past behavior with other coworkers during his testimony, alleging that Georgopoulos sexually harassed another officer and targeted Black employees, especially Black women.
“I believed he could physically harm someone,” testified parking enforcement officer Lloyd Glover, who also witnessed the exchange between Georgopoulos and Nelson. “I’ve heard stories.”
Multiple other officers testified that they too, witnessed Georgopoulos display violent behavior in the office, and couldn’t understand how it was allowed.
Claudio Pubill, a parking-enforcement officer, described hearing Georgopoulos scream expletives from the break room, where he was eating his breakfast before his morning shift. Pubill then testified that he watched from the hallway as Georgopoulos attempted to force his way into McCormick’s office, while James Lee, a since-retired deputy director, tried to restrain him.
“It was really loud, scary,” said Pubill from the stand on Monday. “I couldn’t believe what I had just witnessed.” Before Georgopoulos was escorted out of the building, Pubill testified he heard Georgopoulos yell that he would “kick [McCormick’s] ass.” Pubill testified that he then approached Lee, and demanded the deputy director to take action.
“‘How long do we have to deal with this?’” Pubill recalls asking Lee. “‘This shouldn’t be happening in the workplace.’” Pubill said that Lee’s response was to tell him to write a report.
For the Love of Christ, what a dysfunctional public agency!
I lived it! I was fired after 19 years of service, because I had copies of all the complaints against the plaintiff proof of his ridiculous behavior. So when 3 lawsuits were filed against him, The City fired me . And named me disgruntled employees. This madness has to end.
He said, she said. Who to believe?
So the meter maids are nasty to each other. Who woodda guest it? Karmas a bitch.