Lawsuit: Medical Examiner office a hostile workplace
A former employee of the Macomb County Medical Examiner office accuses the county of maintaining a hostile work environment and committing other rights violations by allowing a “sexually charged” and racially insensitive atmosphere.
The allegations in a federal lawsuit filed April 2 by Anjanette Beaver comes after four Medical Examiner employees were fired last July and August for some of the same instances alleged by Beaver, including a “black penis cake” that was brought into the office last May 26, a day following the death of George Floyd in
Minneapolis.
The cake incident prompted Beaver to complain to county officials, but she says violations of her and some of her coworkers’ rights began shortly after she started working in 2015 at the office as an investigator, after working as a Detroit police officer for 27 years.
“(Beaver) found the work environment at the Medical Examiner’s Office sexually charged and tainted by racial animus,” the lawsuit says. “Office staff made offensive sexual and racist comments pertaining to the anatomy of deceased persons and their families; pornographic and racist images were regularly and openly displayed in the office by staff with the approval, encouragement, and participation of supervisors.”
“Staff who participated in the unlawful conduct were favored while those who refused to participate or otherwise objected to the blatantly unlawful and offensive conduct and communication were bullied, ridiculed, demeaned, and/ or discharged. The unlawful conduct was open, notorious, and a constant theme throughout Plaintiff’s employment.”
The 46-page complaint also claims violations of the Michigan Whistleblowers Act, First Amendment right to free speech, civil rights and the federal Families First Coronavirus Response Act.
Defendants include Macomb County, Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Daniel Spitz, his company, Spitz Pathology Group, Human Resources Director Andrew McKinnon, former operations manager Patricia Roland, former Health Department Director William Ridella, former employee, and operations manager Jacqueline Fontenot, who was hired last December to replace Roland, who was fired by County Executive Mark Hackel in August for her alleged behavior related to the accusations.
Ridella retired in January for unrelated reasons.
Spitz’s contract expires at the end of this year.
The ME office, located in the county complex near Groesbeck Highway and Dunham Road in Mount Clemens, operates under the guise of the Health Department.
Its role is to investigate deaths attributed to “violence, accidents and those not attended by a physician,” its web page says. The office also determines whether autopsies should be conducted.
In response to the allegations, county attorney John Schapka called Beaver’s criticism of the county’s response unfounded, saying officials took action immediately upon hearing about the behavior. He said officials learned about the accusations on a Friday last July and by Saturday began conducting an investigation. Within two weeks, three employees were fired, and Roland was suspended and later fired. About 20 people were interviewed as part of the investigation, he said.
“I don’t know what more the county could have done,” Schapka said. “The county moved swiftly and decisively all to protect Miss Beaver. I don’t think anyone can say we dillydallied.”
Schapka noted Beaver never expressed concerns to Human Resources until last July, although it appears she had been gathering evidence for four years.
Beaver, who is of Native American descent, claims in the lawsuit she didn’t come forward because she feared retaliation, particularly since one prior employee was fired after she complained to Roland that “two favored female white employees” referred to a female employee of Egyptian descent, as a ‘dyke,’ ‘lezbo,’ ‘gay,’ and other degrading, demeaning, unlawful, hurtful and offensive statements.”
Beaver complained to Human Resources after a white female employee brought in a chocolate frosted cake shaped into a penis to celebrate another employee’s birthday. It was the same black penis cake that received national media attention last July when it was revealed.
“Balloons with penises drawn on them were placed in (an employee’s) desk cubby hole and remained on display for days afterwards,” the lawsuit says. Six employees, including defendants Spitz and Roland, “all went to the lunchroom and laughed when they saw the Black Penis Cake. The Black Penis Cake remained in the lunch area for four days in spite of Plaintiff repeatedly asking why the obscene Cake remained displayed in the Medical Examiner’s Office.”
Beaver alleges “Spitz and Roland did not document, address, investigate, ameliorate, elevate, or remediate the unlawful conduct” involving the cake or other behavior alleged throughout the complaint.
County officials said Spitz’s status as a contractor means he does not have management responsibilities, contrary to Beaver’s claim Spitz “was the person ‘in charge’ of the Medical Examiner’s Office.”
Other allegations include:
• Last May 20, days before the penis-cake incident, an employee texted Beaver “a picture of a large, naked Black male sitting on the edge of a bed with his erect penis exposed.” The next day the same photo was the screen saver on Spitz’s computer, and “Spitz and Roland laughed.”
• Computer screen savers of employees contained sexually pornographic images of men.
• Racist and pornographic images were posted in areas of the office.
• Staffers often made sexual and racist remarks about the anatomy of deceased persons in the morgue and their families.
• Beaver’s immediate supervisor “often instructed Plaintiff to ‘Go deal with your people’ in reference to interacting or identifying decedents of African-American families believed to be ‘hostile’ or ‘difficult.’ When Plaintiff was instructed to “Go deal with your people,” one employee “would begin to chant ‘Fight! Fight! Fight!’ “and was joined by Roland and another supervisor.
• One employee “kept and displayed penisshaped confetti at her desk, which were also scattered in the hallways and on the floors of the office in plain view of Plaintiff and others.”
Beaver says after she complained to Human Resources last July 20, Spitz “began to harshly scrutinize and criticize Plaintiff’s work in a manner and tone he had not used before.”
Beaver filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, after which she says Spitz “became increasingly combative, oppositional, and uncooperative with Plaintiff making her work far more cumbersome and difficult.”
Beaver recently left her job in the ME office, saying she was forced to resign.
Schapka said she resigned on her own accord.
The lawsuit says Spitz, who also is the St. Clair County medical examiner, hired three of the fired workers to work in St. Clair County
The lawsuit alleges the county violated a federal law regarding coronavirus by alleging complaints to the Occupational Health and Safety Administration about the lack of a fit test for N95 masks and the lack of enough personal protection equipment in a vehicle that ME investigators drive to death scenes.
Schapka disputed both claims.
The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Paul Borman.