The Tale of the Endangered Payroll Specialist

Judd was a very interesting employee. He started out as a temporary placement for an open Accounts Payable position, and truly succeeded. After a certain number of hours passed, we were able to hire him onto our payroll. Of course that's when the problems started.

For one, as rumor has it, he became extremely friendly with Roy (See Blowin Money Fast), and the two began having some Sunday Fundays at various gay bars, some of which were extremely salacious. For example, on one occasion, Judd got cockeyed drunk and began drinking random drinks off the bar. He also whipped his dick out in the middle of the dance floor and swung it around like a helicopter while he danced. On that specific evening, Judd and Roy were removed from the establishment. Roy, mortified, went home when the two were kicked out, at roughly 8:30 PM. At 3:30 AM, Judd stood outside of Roy’s apartment complex, yelling for Roy and shouting that he wanted to “bottom for him.” Judd called Roy’s cell phone throughout the night because he wanted to go up to Roy’s apartment. As an aside, Roy was in a monogamous relationship. Either Judd was Glen Close fatal attraction, or Roy’s cover could have been blown.

In addition the following Monday, and on various other Mondays, Judd would come into work after being out all night, in the same clothes from the night before. Apparently, he may have come into the office early in the morning, slept at his desk, and then woke up before the rest of the staff got to the office and began working. Ahh, to be young.

Anyway, I digress. One Saturday, I was minding my own business, catching up on the housewives, when I received a call from our Payroll Specialist, Cynthia. Cynthia was upset because Judd, our Accounts Payable Specialist, called her at home to tell her he was gay. I’m unsure of why Cynthia was uncomfortable by this, but apparently she didn't know about Judd’s sexual orientation before this conversation and was upset that he called her. There's definitely more to this story that I never uncovered, but at some point during the conversation, Cynthia’s husband got involved and took the phone and “words were exchanged.” Both Cynthia and her husband instructed Judd to never call their home again. Cynthia’s main issue was that she was upset that Judd and her boss, Larry, gave Judd Cynthia’s phone number. I wasn’t quite sure why she called me, what she wanted me to do, and why this was a big deal for her, but I told her that we would deal with it on Monday. Meanwhile, Cynthia used our organization’s HRIS to get my personal phone number… talk about the pot calling the kettle black!

On Monday morning, Cynthia immediately came up to my office to follow-up. She explained that she spoke to Larry and Judd, and wanted to ensure Judd understood that he crossed a boundary with his call and that Larry knew she was upset about her number being given out. Later that morning, I spoke to Larry and asked him to recount what happened on Saturday. He said Judd called him and asked for Cynthia’s phone number and he didn’t think anything about it or that there was anything wrong with giving it to him. He further stated that he assumed it was something about work.

Then a little while later Judd called him back – very upset – and told him about the conversation with Cynthia. Judd explained that his conversation, while some parts were related to work (the termination of Roy and Shannon’s manager and the CEO), turned to a more personal one where he shared things with Cynthia as a “friend”. Cynthia didn’t respond well to the conversation and became upset. Her husband, who was also upset, got on the phone with Judd to tell him not to call their home anymore. Not long after speaking with Judd, Cynthia called as well, and relayed to Larry how upset she was. Both accounts of the conversation were the same. Larry said he apologized to Cynthia and spoke to Judd about not doing anything like that again.

I explained to Larry that he should never have given anybody another employee’s phone number without their consent – it’s confidential information. Further, non-exempt employees should not be conducting work on the weekends. If Judd needed something, he should have asked Larry; not Cynthia. I also explained to Larry that our conversation would be documented as a verbal warning and kept on record.

Soon after, while meeting with one of my employees, Judd continuously pounded on my door until I responded. My employee and I looked at each other, nervous, as it almost sounded like the police were outside. When Judd entered, he yelled, "I can't fucking do this anymore!" When I asked him to elaborate, he continued to speak with a raised voice and in mostly nonsensical sentence fragments, “She brup and I brup, and I can’t with her, she better not burp, and I said, brup..” and claimed that Cynthia was bullying him and trying to boss him around.

He explained that when he tried to discuss it with Larry, Larry told him he didn't have the time to handle it at the moment. Judd then made a comment along the lines of, “the issue needs to be resolved now.” He then yelled that he was "done with Cynthia." I explained that without understanding the structure of the Finance department, and that the issue was due to an interpersonal relationship, that Larry should handle the situation, not me.

He started to discuss how "this place was crazy," and how the CFO “kicked boxes on his last day and how Jennifer was falling out screaming and crying." He then became frustrated and leered at me in silence for what felt like eternity. The look in his eyes was scary; I felt as if he might have lunged at me at any moment. He began to yell that he was going to talk to the CEO about the situation. When I restated that the issue needed to be addressed with Larry, he began to storm out of my office stating that he had to leave for the day, and that he would be entering sick time for when he was out. After leaving my office, he turned back and began to cry, stating that he loved his job, but that he didn't know if he could handle it anymore.

I called Larry once Judd left. Larry told me that he was experiencing many performance issues over the past few weeks and that he was going to contact me regarding some form of discipline action. He also mentioned recently giving Judd a verbal warning related to his performance. I asked Larry if he thought Judd’s performance related to Roy's death because I knew that Judd and Roy were close, but Larry explained that Judd’s performance issues began before Roy’s death. I then explained the interaction I just had with Judd to Larry, who had not known that Judd left for the day.

When I came into the office the following day, Phyllis (the Benefits Manager) stopped me to tell me that Judd contacted her, and that he was upset and said that he was being bullied, harassed, and discriminated against and wanted to know how to file a complaint with our CEO. Phyllis referred him back to me and told me that I needed to contact him. Before contacting him, Cynthia called me because Judd did not show up to work and called him to find out where he was. Judd apparently got upset with Cynthia and began to yell at her, saying that he was unsure if he was returning to work and it was all her fault. Cynthia was scared because she was unsure "what he was capable of,” and wanted to "feel safe at work."

I contacted Judd immediately after hanging up with Cynthia. I explained that I was following up with him regarding his call to Phyllis, and that I wanted to find out more about his complaints. He explained that Cynthia was "harassing" him because she acted like more of his boss than Larry did. He stated that Cynthia tried to reprioritize his work, and that she tells him what to do even if it contradicts what Larry's directives were. I suggested that it made sense that she would follow up with him because they work very closely with accounts payable, but as I suggested yesterday, that he needed to let Larry handle the Finance operations and procedures.

I asked him how he felt discriminated against. He explained that when he went to Larry about these issues, Larry said that it made sense for Cynthia to follow up with him because "you're lower level." I suggested that he probably meant that Cynthia’s position of Payroll & AP Specialist had seniority over the AP Specialist role because Cynthia supervised the AP functions. He said that he was offended by the remark and that it hurt his feelings.

I asked him why he did not show up to work and he expressed that he was too upset. I asked if he contacted Larry to let him know that he would be out of work and he said no. I explained that Larry was his manager and so he needed to follow proper call out procedures. When he explained that Larry was not at work, I told him that he should have still left a voicemail or sent an e-mail. He said that he "did not feel comfortable talking to Larry after what happened [the previous day].” I asked if he was resigning because he told me he refused to talk to Larry or Cynthia, two people that he needed to work closely with, and because he did not show up to work or follow proper call out procedures. He said that he wasn't resigning but that he was refusing to speak to Cynthia. Throughout the call he said things like, “I despise her,” “I just don't like her,” “She better learn her place,” and “You better let her know I’m not the one.”

I told him that the language he was using sounded threatening. I explained that there would more than likely be repercussions for not following proper call out procedures. He asked what kind of repercussions, and I said most likely a written warning. He responded, "That's fine Porter, I'll see YOU on Tuesday,” in a threatening tone.

When we hung up, I decided to cut his access since he made several verbal veiled threats to me. After discussing the situation with are legal counsel, she suggested that we send Judd for an IME (independent medical exam) to determine if:

• There was an ADA issue that would prevent us from terminating Judd

• If it was safe to have Judd in the workplace

Then, depending on the results of the IME, we would then take one of the following actions:

• If the IME showed that he was okay, we could terminate him for violations in our Violence Free Workplace Policy.

• If there was an ADA issue, and it was not safe to have Judd in the workplace, terminate him.

• If there was an ADA issue, and it was safe to have Judd in the workplace, engage in the interactive process.

Phyllis and I then contacted Judd and explained that he did not need to come to work, and that we would see him the following day. When I confirmed that he understood, and he said, "Why Wednesday"? I responded that we needed to debrief after the several interactions he had with staff over the past several days. He argued that we did not ask for his input. He then started to escalate and scream about Cynthia. He explained that they were both black and needed to look out for one another. He then began yelling things like “She needs to back the fuck up!” “I give you chance after chance Cynthia…,” “Why Cynthia, why?,” I was ready to kick Cynthia’s face in…” and, “We are still grieving the loss of the CFO, and I'm still grieving the loss of my baby, Roy.” After confirming that we would be in touch, we eventually hung up.

Based on the then blatant threats to Cynthia, we made the decision to terminate Judd. While Judd was suspended, we arranged for an armed security guard to be stationed in the officer, and for them to escort Cynthia to and from her car for a about a week. Although he was obviously not happy about his termination, he wound up not coming back to the office and/or causing a scene.

Months later, office gossip circulated that Judd went missing. My heart sank a little, especially since we terminated him when he was obviously in such a dark place. Oddly enough, a few days later when I was leaving the office, I saw him walking down the street yelling on the phone with someone. Some things never change…

My heart of ice momentarily melted and I yelled, “Hey Judd!” He turned around. I continued, “You know your loved ones are looking for you right? I don't want to get into your personal business, but I think you should at least give them a call to let them know you’re okay.” He rolled his eyes and continued his conversation and began walking away. I heard his voice settle down and seem softer and less aggressive. I hoped that maybe he took my words to heart and possibly decided to call home.

That was the last of Judd, the inappropriate, dick showing, threatening AP Specialist that caused us to hire an armed guard.

Until next time…