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After a complaint of ‘toxic’ work environment, Hartford’s human resource director recommends firing of chief internal auditor

Hartford Courant - 7/3/2020

Hartford’s human resources director is recommending that Chief Internal Auditor Craig Trujillo be fired after an employee complained he was subject to a “toxic” work environment in the auditor’s office.

Deputy Chief Auditor Joe Caruso filed the complaint against his supervisor in February, alleging the independent auditor made disparaging comments about others and used the office bathroom without closing the door during work hours, among other accusations, according to records released by the city this week.

An independent investigator substantiated some of the claims but determined that Trujillo didn’t violate any policies on harassment, retaliation, threats or time theft, as Caruso alleged, according to the June 1 report by Rose Kallor, LLP.

However, the city’s new human resources director took a difference stance when he forwarded the report to Trujillo’s supervisors on the Internal Audit Commission.

Thulani LeGrier, who was appointed head of human resources in April, wrote in a June 19 memo that Trujillo’s conduct was “utterly unbecoming” of a city employee and department head, and that he would exercise Hartford’s Zero Tolerance Policy on harassment if he had the authority to do so.

LeGrier used stronger language in a June 24 email to the commissioners, saying he would typically fire someone for such allegations of workplace misconduct, and recommended Trujillo be removed as chief auditor.

The Internal Audit Commission met for several hours behind closed doors on Wednesday for a special meeting to discuss Trujillo’s performance. The group did not take any action after the meeting and chairperson Ted See declined to comment Thursday.

Trujillo denied the allegations by Caruso, who declined to comment this week.

While Trujillo said the commission heard his side of the story and exonerated him, he also said he was “being eviscerated” by LeGrier at the direction of Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin.

“The administration is taking a shot at me because the mayor doesn’t appreciate some of the audit reports we issue that are factual and true,” Trujillo stated. “He doesn’t want to hear bad news.”

“We’re going back to the 1600\u2032s and the Salem witch trials,” he said later. “That’s what’s going on here.” -

Bronin who denied any involvement on Thursday and said he didn’t speak with LeGrier about the substance of the investigation or his recommendations before they were given to the Internal Audit Commission.

Bronin said he still hadn’t read the full investigative report as of Thursday afternoon.

Among its conclusions is that “it was more likely than not that Mr. Trujillo used the restroom in the office without closing the door.” This would not constitute workplace harassment, wrote Melinda Powell, the investigator.

Trujillo denied that he urinated in the bathroom with the door open, saying that and other accusations in the report were either misunderstandings or made up. In this case, he said he has left the door open while cleaning the bathroom, which involves running the faucet.

“I actually clean the bathroom so it’s respectable when my female employees go in there and use it, because of the way some people leave it,” Trujillo said. He added, “There’s no evidence for anything. This is not a story.”

Powell also said it was “more likely than not” that Trujillo made disparaging comments about the auditors and their work product. Among the examples Caruso gave in his complaint, he said Trujillo compared himself to staff by saying, “I’m up here,” and gesturing near eye level, and that everyone else is below, gesturing around knee level.

Trujillo on Thursday said he didn’t make the belittling comments attributed to him in the report, including calling one of the commissioners a crude insult.

Asked about that allegation, Trujillo deflected, saying one of his employees frequently uses the same profanities in their private conversations.The chief auditor would not elaborate on the accusation Thursday.

“I’m not gonna have you print that in the paper,” Trujillo said. “I’m rescinding that statement. I didn’t even say it.”

In his complaint, Caruso also alleged that Trujillo frequently took long lunches and left work early. The investigator and human resources did not substantiate the time theft accusations, as the chief auditor does not clock in and out.

The investigator determined it was not an issue that Trujillo regularly watches or listens to FOX News during work hours, which one staff member said “could be viewed as demotivating or distracting.”

Employees also spoke to Trujillo’s performance as a supervisor, with one saying there were no standard operating procedures in the office and that it was difficult to determine what Trujillo’s standards or expectations were.

Two employees said Trujillo has changed their final audit reports, after management had already responded to the findings, requiring staff to go back to management again.

One called the process “an impediment to the auditor’s ability to establish rapport with the agencies,” which would allow them better cooperation in the auditing process.

In addition to recommending Trujillo’s termination, LeGrier told the three-person audit commission that he doesn’t think Trujillo can work in the same physical office as his four staff members in the future.

The city can’t ensure they won’t “continue to be subjected to further workplace harassment by Mr. Trujillo,” LeGrier wrote last month.

Separating the department head from his staff is “the only reasonable intervention that the department can enforce,” he stated.

Bronin said he would need to speak with LeGreir and corporation counsel about the his authority to enforce any workspace changes, and whether LaGrier intends to use that authority if it exists.

He declined to comment further on the accusations against Trujillo.

“In general, my view is that decisions about the management and operation of the independent audit staff fall within the purview of the independent audit commission,” Bronin said.

While the report says Trujillo “did not respond to requests for an interview,” he said Thursday that he was only approached once in March and declined to talk over the phone, thinking it would soon be possible to meet in person again.

Instead, the coronavirus pandemic stretched on and Powell did not reach out again, Trujillo said.

Powell did not return a request for comment.

Rebecca Lurye can be reached at rlurye@courant.com.

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