Someone hung a stuffed monkey in a noose at city office. It could cost Modesto $250K

Modesto is willing to pay $250,000 to settle a discrimination lawsuit filed against it by one of its wastewater treatment plant operators, who is half African-American and claims he was subject to racial slurs and harassment and was retaliated against when he complained.

Patrick Green sued Modesto in Stanislaus County Superior Court in July 2016. He is represented by Modesto attorney David Rancano.

On June 8, attorney Jesse Maddox emailed Rancano this: "The City of Modesto has authorized me to accept Plaintiff's (Green) demand of $250,000, with an immediate resignation. We are willing to prepare the draft agreement. Please contact me so that we can discuss the details."

Rancano said while the details need to be worked out, "in legal terms, this is done."

City spokesman Thomas Reeves declined to comment about the lawsuit. "We do not have a settlement agreement with Mr. Green," Reeves said in a statement, "and (we) will therefore not be discussing."

Reeves said Modesto has zero tolerance for bad behavior and responds swiftly to complaints. "When matters of discrimination are brought up, we will address them," he said. "In this case, that employee (accused of mistreating Green) is no longer with the city."

Green, 51, has worked for Modesto for 7 1/2 years and has to give up his job as part of the proposed settlement. It's a well-paying one — he earned $75,063 last year, with about $20,000 of that in overtime.

Rancano said as part of his law firm's due diligence, it reviewed Green's work history and found he has been a good city employee. Rancano said "we tried other alternatives to keep his job" but the city was not agreeable.

Green issued a statement in which he said in part: "I ultimately sacrificed my job in order to bring to light the troubling behavior I experienced and witnessed against my coworkers."

The lawsuit claims Modesto allowed a "culture of discrimination to exist within its wastewater treatment facility." The lawsuit claims Modesto condoned the use of the word "n-----" and other racial slurs.

Green’s lawsuit claims he was subject to “racial comments, innuendos, insinuations, jokes and songs.” The lawsuit claims an effigy of a monkey hanging from a noose was displayed in a supervisor’s office. Rancano also has said a supervisor sang a song that included these lyrics: "If the South had won, we’d each own one."

Attorneys for the city have denied the lawsuit's allegations in court filings and claimed Green did not use the procedures in place to deal with the alleged bad behavior.

As a wastewater treatment plant operator, Green said he primarily works at the city's Jennings Road facility. In his statement, he described a workplace dealing with high turnover, poor management and poor treatment of its employees. He added workers are not encouraged to ask questions or point out problems.

"If you bring up an issue," he said, "the issue does not get addressed. You get addressed. That's the culture."

Green's description is similar to what an auditor found when it reviewed the water and wastewater divisions four years ago and recommended a reorganization, which the city implemented. A subsequent review noted progress in the divisions since the reorganization.

When asked whether Modesto has a culture problem, Reeves said: "I believe our interim city manager has the goal to improve upon our culture. I cannot necessarily say we have a poor culture."

He said Modesto is making sure employees know the city's expectations regarding accountability and zero tolerance, that they know the policies and procedures when problems arise and that their questions and feedback are welcome.

Reeves said Modesto also is working on celebrating its employees. For instance, he said, Modesto recently celebrated Public Service Recognition Week, an event held nationwide. "We don't want it to be a week but year-round," Reeves said.

This story was originally published June 15, 2018 at 2:46 PM with the headline "Someone hung a stuffed monkey in a noose at city office. It could cost Modesto $250K."