CT correction officer accused of calling co-worker homophobic slur

The union representing correction officers contends a high-ranking state Department of Correction official who was accused of calling a subordinate a homophobic slur should have been suspended.

Capt. Israel Rodriguez was ordered to complete a sensitivity course and transferred to another facility after admitting to investigators he called a coworker a homophobic slur in front of others on April 28, 2019, according to DOC documents of the investigation obtained by Hearst Connecticut Media.

“To me, he got promoted,” Sean Howard, president of AFSCME Local 387, told Hearst Connecticut Media. “When he was asked, he said he believed the word was a term of endearment, which is ludicrous. They should be ashamed of themselves for how they handled this.”

The correction officer who was allegedly called the slur has filed a complaint against the DOC with the state Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities, that agency confirmed. The complaint is still pending, according to Charles Perry, a representative of the CHRO.

DOC officials declined to comment, citing the case being in “active litigation.”

It is the second time this year that Howard and other union officials condemned the DOC’s handling of discrimination complaints. In April, DOC Commissioner Rollin Cook demanded a three-day suspension for a captain who was accused of using a racial slur at work.

The racial slur complaint was filed in June 2018. But according to DOC records, it wasn’t fully investigated until this past January. By that point, the agency’s human resources division determined the captain had violated DOC policy by using a racial slur but recommended that no action be taken due to “untimeliness.”

The captain was not disciplined until Cook was asked to sign off on the complaint, according to DOC records. The captain abruptly retired in April after Cook agreed to reopen the investigation when Howard and other union officials raised concerns about the racial remark.

Howard said the department has a history of “ignoring” racial and homophobic slurs.

“In both cases, the captains remained captains,” Howard said. “This isn’t how leadership is supposed to act.”

In the 2019 case, Rodriguez was working his shift at Manson Youth Institution when he bet another employee that the correction officer wouldn’t properly secure a door, according to the DOC incident report.

Rodriguez and the correction officer were with others when the captain said he owed the man a soda while calling him a homophobic slur, the documents said. The other employees heard the remark and told investigators they

were offended, “especially because such an offensive comment came from a captain, who is supposed to be held to a higher standard,” documents said.

Rodriguez admitted during the investigation to calling the correction officer the slur, which he said he “used all the time” and considered the word a “term of endearment,” documents said.

“I’ve hung out with him outside of work and I’ve known (him) since 2013,” Rodriguez said of the correction officer during an interview with investigators, according to the DOC documents.

“I utilize it as a term of endearment. You know, I joke with him all the time. Um, I didn’t mean anything derogatory or anything, demeaning or disrespectful. It’s just a word I frankly use all the time even in my personal life as a term of endearment.”

Rodriguez was found to have violated the agency’s

sexual harassment policy and ordered to attend remedial sensitivity training in addition to other training required by all staff, according to the documents.

Rodriguez, who worked second shift at Manson, was also transferred in October to first shift at Cheshire Correctional Institution, as a disciplinary measure, according to DOC documents.

Howard contends the transfer was to a more desirable shift that is coveted by other employees.

“Just because you admit to using the word doesn’t make it right and not punishable,” Howard said.

Through an arbitration process, the correction officer was able to get back eight days of sick time he used as a result of being called the slur, Howard said. The arbitration ruling also specified that Rodriguez and the correction officer should no longer work in the same facility, Howard added.