County HR director asks to further violate rights
Brett Duke, Daniela Labinoti
Instead of fixing Doña Ana County's broken employment system that has violated employees' rights, Human Resources Director Deborah Weir suggests to commissioners that taking away employees' right to a jury trial is the answer to the county's personnel problems.
All employees have certain rights, including the right to be free from retaliation by their employer. Jorge Granados opposed workplace discrimination against other employees. The county discharged him. Kim Stewart opposed workplace discrimination against other employees and reported unlawful and improper actions. The county discharged her. In 2013, a jury comprising members of the community heard evidence of DAC's broken system and rendered a verdict that DAC violated Granados' rights by retaliating against him. In 2015, another jury composed of different members of the community heard evidence of DAC's broken system and rendered a verdict that DAC violated Stewart's rights by retaliating against her.
In apparent response to these two jury decisions from the community, management reckons the appropriate remedy to Doña Ana County's broken employment system could be further attempts to take away from employees the right of a jury trial through further implementation of arbitration by tweaking its arbitration policy. Arbitration is a dispute-resolution process where decisions are not made by members of the community, but privately by a person selected by the county.
The constitutions of the United States and New Mexico preserve the right of trial by jury. Arbitration polices circumvent these rights by forced fictional agreements or deceptive policies for dispute resolution to the detriment of those who unknowingly waive their right to a jury trial.
By further attempting to take away their employees' rights to a jury trial, Doña Ana County is not fixing its broken employment system and preventing the violation of its employees' rights. The county would be trying to prevent the members of the community from publicly holding it accountable.
Fortunately for the employees of Doña Ana County and the community, the judicial system in several cases refused Doña Ana County's requests to take away employees' rights to a jury trial by voiding the county's arbitration policy that it sought to use to keep employees' cases away from a jury trial.
A better response to Doña Ana County's broken system is not to try and take away its employees' right to a jury trial, but to hold everyone — especially those in management — accountable for violating employee rights. A better response is to simply stop the retaliation against employees who speak up against perceived wrongdoing, even when it is against management, protect them, investigate their concerns, thank them, and not punish them by building a case against them for termination.
Any commissioner who supports arbitration, supports further violating employee rights by taking away employees' rights. At least Doña Ana County employees have judges and the judicial system to protect them.
Attorneys Brett Duke and Daniela Labinoti both represented an employee in a recent lawsuit against the county.