Director of Facilities Charlotte Zolezzi, who has been on administrative leave since Feb. 20, said she is not in any kind of trouble. College officials are actually trying to protect her, she insisted.
Zolezzi was placed on leave by Southwestern College’s Vice President of Human Resources Robert Unger after three college custodians made a series of charges against her and the college. They claimed Zolezzi was harassing them at work by following them around during their night shifts, blackmailing them with photographs of them sleeping or engaging in illegal activities during work hours, spying on them, and allowing them to be insulted and harassed by their direct supervisor.
Zolezzi said the charges of harassment were untrue and that she was doing her job by holding the custodians accountable to perform their work. She also said the custodians’ complaints with the college reached back long before she was hired in 2016. A group of four custodians and a computer technician had charged the college with institutional racism and their claims set off a volatile series of events that included at least three lawsuits, a death threat against a union official, raids of employee offices, impounded computers and the resignation of a college dean.
Zolezzi said she stepped into a racially-charged “cesspool” when she came aboard. She was tasked with getting more productivity out of the night custodians, but insisted she went into her new job wanting to help them and encourage them, too.
“So I think the complaints back then, everyone was like ‘we’re mad because we’re being treated bad because of our ethnicity,’” Zolezzi said. “And HR did nothing. They just kind of shuffled people. If anything went wrong or someone got caught with their pants down, literally, they got shuffled. Somebody stole something, they got shuffled. No one got let go, no one got suspended. People just got into that mindset of getting away with anything and everything and nobody cared. It was like a bad child. They got to the point where if they don’t care, we don’t care.”
Night custodians at SWC have been accused of numerous illegal activities over the years, such as stealing food from cafeterias, drinking and using drugs during work hours, sleeping on the job, and leaving campus to party during work hours and returning intoxicated. To date, however, none have been fired for any such offenses.
At least four custodians have claimed severe racial discrimination and harassment over a period of years. Custodians have charged that dead rats and human feces were placed in their lockers, a picture of President Obama was defaced with the word “nigger” across his forehead, and co-workers made ape and monkey noises over their walkie-talkies. Three of the complaining custodians are African-American, one is Latino. The IT technician is also African-American.
Zolezzi said college administration was focused on passing accreditation last year and had her focusing less on employees she supervised. She said other employees started coming to her to complain about custodians who were stealing and sleeping on the job. She tried tackling the issues, she said, but former HR Vice President Trinda Best and former HR Director Marvin Castillo did not resolve them. She said Best was afraid to process complaints against the custodians for fear of a backlash from the racism complaints custodians Thaao Streeter, Roderick Curry and Mark Gutierrez had filed. Best is also African-American.
“I sent them packages of paper on the custodians and I would turn it in,” Zolezzi said. “Months would go by and (Best and Castillo) would not submit it. It was like they were gun shy. They just didn’t want to deal with the problems.”
Zolezzi was relieved of custodial supervision duties in the midst of the investigation. Vice President of Business and Financial Affairs Tim Flood has overseen the custodial department since June 2, 2017.
Curry said the custodians were unable to comment on matters pertaining to Zolezzi because of the lawsuit he, Streeter and Gutierrez have filed against SWC. A civil jury trial is scheduled to begin November 9.
Zolezzi said she hopes the truth comes out before the trial. She also said she hopes the people in the custodial department tell the truth and do not risk their employment over lying for their co-workers.
“If I’m wrongfully terminated, they’re going to have to say it in court,” Zolezzi said. “Are you really willing to jeopardize your freedom? Perjury is punishable.”
Zolezzi said having Unger as the Acting VP of HR is a step in the right direction for the college and “administration is in the process of clearing the swamp.” Being placed on administrative leave was depressing at first, she said, but she is optimistic that she will not be found of any wrong doing and will be back to work soon.
“I did what I felt was my responsibility and I know I did the right thing,” she said. “It was ethically correct to do what I did. It may have pushed some buttons, but if it pushes your buttons to work hard, something is wrong with you. You shouldn’t have that button. Hard work is why we’re here. It’s a good job, good pay. We have nice pensions. We’re teaching students here, good students.”
Zolezzi is the latest in a series of permanent and temporary facilities directors employed at the college over the last decade. John Wilson was entangled in the South Bay Corruption Scandal of 2010-12 for financial malfeasance and John Brown was let go for mishandling personnel issues.
SWC’s Human Resources Department has also been an area of turmoil going back nearly 13 years to the resignation of college president Norma Hernandez in 2005. Federal accreditation agencies have been highly critical of both areas since 2009 when SWC was placed on probation and threatened with closure. Unger, a former personal injury attorney and reading professor, has been serving as acting vice president since October 2017. Best has been on leave since July 2017 and still holds the title of Title IX Coordinator.
