Part II: JSI’s Investigation
The events described in my last post took an incredible toll on my mental health, to the point where those closest to me began to worry. Finding out that my complaint had been assigned to one of the people named in my complaint was more than I could handle and, later that week, I went out on medical leave.
I was out for two months and, for the first month, I tried not to think about what had happened. My health did improve, but even if I wasn't actively thinking about what had happened, I still struggled. I finally checked my work email in early August for the first time since Colantropo's email. I reread that email and realized that, in my shock, I had overlooked the last lines:
That said, I want to avoid any perception on your part that the inquiry will somehow be unfair to you if I lead it. Therefore, JSI is appointing our VP of Contracts & Compliance, Rob Schlink, to handle it. Rob will be reaching out to you directly.
Schlink had followed up with an email the following Monday, July 15. This was confusing—didn't he know that I had taken a medical leave? I had been communicating with JSl from my personal email account to make sure they had the appropriate clinical documentation for my medical leave. How did he miss that?
It took me a few days to finally email him and, when I did, I tried to be professional and give him the benefit of the doubt (I had never met Schlink, but had heard good things) while also advocating for what I believed were basic and reasonable transparency and protective measures. Rather than trying to summarize the emails that followed, I’ll just share them here.
Some notes on these emails:
Please remember that I have never met Rob Schlink and had never been afforded the opportunity to meet with JSI investigators before these emails, despite clearly and emphatically writing in my original complaint that I am just working on documenting but would very much appreciate having a conversation with someone ASAP as I am concerned that the stress from this pressure is having a negative effect on both my health and my productivity at JSI.
In response to what I believe are fair and reasonable questions about my rights as a whistleblower, Schlink repeatedly responded by referring me to JSI’s Code of Conduct and Employee Handbook. This was incredibly frustrating because those documents simply did not contain the answers to my questions. For reference, here is the relevant section from JSI’s Code of Conduct.
On August 26, I shared 116 pages of documentation. While I don’t have the ability to share the entire thing, I am able to share the first six pages, including the table of contents, summary, and what I believe is a reasonable request for protection.
On August 30, Schlink responded that my documentation had no merit, and appears to refer to my requests for protection as “special treatment,” further writing that I “cannot dictate how this investigation is conducted.” I respectfully disagree with his characterization of my requests (as outlined in the document linked directly above).
While Schlink did offer to meet with me after my return, I eventually declined. He had completely dismissed over 100 pages of what I believed to be compelling documentation and evidence, so I had little hope that anything I said would change his mind and, to be honest, I was worried about me mental health.
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I returned to work on Tuesday, September 3. At 8:52am that Thursday, I received an email from Schlink notifying me that he had completed his investigation and my claims were unsubstantiated. He also did not share the final report, writing only that the findings were confidential and had been shared with “the relevant members of management.'“ A few hours later, in a short meeting with Jonathan Metzger and Laura Colantropo, I was terminated.
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I eventually did gain access to the report. The report requires too much redaction to share right now, but I can provide the following information:
Laura Colantropo was named as a respondent in the report, but does not appear to have ever been interviewed.
The report falsely lists three interviews with me: June 27, June 28, and July 10. The first two dates were before I submitted my complaint, and notes from Morgan Curtis indicate that I was, essentially, too scared to provide details. The July 10 interview was a short conversation where I was informed that Laura Colantropo had been named to lead the investigation.
The report did recognize my whistleblower status, but concluded its “Legal Analysis” section by stating: “The complainant’s protected conduct does not insulate him from the consequences of his insubordination.”
There are brief references to a 40-page document summarizing my performance issues that was compiled by Jonathan Metzger, as well as an emailed claim by Metzger that I could become violent and harm his family. I have those documents and will share them at a later date.
The report notes that I “did not respond to multiple requests” to schedule a follow-up interview. As far as I know, the only communication I did not respond to was an email sent by Schlink to my work email several days after I had notified JSI that I would be taking a medical leave.
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My termination letter, signed by Laura Colantropo, lists “job performance deficiencies” as the first of several reasons why I was terminated. You could imagine my surprise, then, when I got a notification the day after I was terminated that JSI had tagged me in a LinkedIn post recognizing my contribution to a high-profile activity that had been recently recognized for its design and accessibility (I worked on design and accessibility).
This blog post reflects my personal experiences and opinions. It is based on my recollection of events and the information available to me at the time of writing. While I strive for accuracy, if any individual or organization believes a factual statement is incorrect, I welcome the opportunity to address and, if necessary, correct the record. Please contact me directly with any concerns, and I will promptly review and consider corrections in good faith.