Modesto’s post of job opening day after employee died regrettable but not intentional
At 2 p.m. Monday, a Modesto city worker driving a three-axle garbage packer truck was killed in a tragic accident after veering off the road.
Less than 24 hours later, here’s what the city posted on social media and in internal and external newsletters: “WE’RE HIRING! The city of Modesto is currently looking for equipment operators to join our team.”
Ouch.
Unlucky coincidence? Yes, city spokesman Thomas Reeves assured me.
Job recruitment in government is a lengthy process involving multiple departments that starts six to eight weeks before an opening becomes public, he said. It’s just bad timing that the current one, begun nearly two months ago, happened to go live just after the death of Johnny Garcia Jr., 52, who had worked 18 years for the city.
Also, Garcia’s position as a maintenance worker is different from the one the city now is trying to fill — equipment operator — although some of their duties overlap.
Job descriptions for both include this identical language: “Pick up and transport refuse to the appropriate dumping site.” That’s exactly what Garcia was doing when he inexplicably went off Finch Road, a half-block from a dump, hitting a cement planter, a chain link fence and a tree.
Whether rain or not wearing a seat belt contributed to his death is under investigation, the California Highway Patrol told Bee reporter Erin Tracy.
“I admit, (the task) looks similar based on what he was doing at the time of his death — transporting waste,” Reeves said.
But Garcia’s job as maintenance worker is a step down from equipment operator in skill level and pay. A wage range for the first caps out at $27.67 per hour, compared to $30.54 for the second, a difference of $6,000 a year.
It’s unthinkable that any agency would be callous enough to glibly, in all caps, seek a replacement for a worker only hours after he was killed on the job.
It is conceivable that no one at the grieving agency stopped to think about the optics of doing so.
That’s unfortunate. But it’s not malicious.
