The University has rehired with back pay a Sharpe Refectory worker who was fired for not washing her hands after entering the bathroom - where she said she only adjusted her uniform and did not touch anything.
Valdi Williams, who had worked as a "limited duration employee" at The Gate since 2000 before being hired under a union contract as a dishwasher at the Ratty, was fired March 7, her second day in the position. When Sam Holzman '05, a friend of Williams from her time at The Gate, found her "in a state of shock" in the back of The Gate a few hours after she was fired, he brought her to the Human Resources Department so she could present her side of the story.
After three meetings with Human Resources administrators and a public campaign by the Student Labor Alliance, the matter was referred to Vice President for Campus Life and Student Services David Greene by the director of Brown Dining Services. Greene told The Herald that he initiated a formal "problem resolution process," looked into the facts of the case and ultimately rehired Williams at a meeting early Wednesday afternoon.
At the meeting, attended by Greene, Williams, a union representative and five members of the SLA, Williams signed a letter providing that she would be rehired to her dishwashing position, starting work Sunday, according to Seth Leibson '05, an SLA member at the meeting.
"At the request of Valdi and the union representative, David Greene handwrote another clause that (provided) she would be paid for time missed," Leibson said.
Greene would not comment on the details of the matter "to be able to protect the privacy of the employee."
Williams, reached at her home in Pawtucket Wednesday night, told The Herald that the firing took her by surprise.
She said that she had gone to the bathroom the morning of March 7 only to adjust her pants because they were too tight, and that she did not touch anything in the bathroom. Williams acknowledged that she went into a stall and closed the door, but she said she did not think anyone else had been in the bathroom.
Later, she said, one of her supervisors informed her that she had to wash her hands whenever she was in the bathroom and brought her to the bathroom to demonstrate proper hand-washing technique.
Williams said she was told later that day to see a supervisor and was handed her papers.
The director and two associate directors of BuDS were not available for comment Wednesday.
Williams said she was pleased with the University's response to her firing, saying she expected "no more problems" when she comes back to work Sunday. She also expressed gratitude for the students who helped her.
In the weeks Williams was not employed by Brown, she worked at a part-time cleaning job for about three hours a day, she said.
As a "limited duration employee" at The Gate - a temporary worker whom the University does not have to pay its minimum wage of $10 per hour - Williams said she had worked from 20 to 35 hours a week at an $8 per hour wage. Her dishwashing job at the Ratty was for 30 hours a week at a pay rate of $11.57 per hour, she said. If she is paid at that rate for back pay since March 7, she will receive a check for approximately $2,400 from the University.
The route to Williams' re-employment was lengthy and complicated. The day she was fired, Holzman accompanied Williams to Human Resources, where she gave an HR staff member "the brief rundown of what happened," Holzman said. However, Williams, who immigrated to the United States from Cape Verde in 1989, speaks her native Portuguese better than English, and no interpreter was present.
At a mid-March meeting with Assistant Vice President for Human Resources Roberta Gordon, a Cape Verdean friend of Williams acted as interpreter.
Finally, at a third meeting, Gordon "ended up saying that because Valdi was a probationary employee, the University could fire her (legally) at will," Leibson said. That is, since Williams had only recently become a member of the union, she did yet qualify for all the protections of the union contract.
Leibson said he replied that "the issue is not legal, it's ethical. ... This firing was unjust."
After Gordon recommended at the third meeting that Williams meet with Gretchen Willis, director of BuDS, Leibson talked to Willis in early April. However, Willis refused to meet except one-on-one with Williams, Leibson said.
At that point, a guest column by Leibson about the matter was published in The Herald ("Students should oppose unreasonable firing of BuDS worker," April 13), and the SLA coordinated a mass e-mailing of students, parents and alums to Willis and President Ruth Simmons. Leibson said at least 400 of the e-mails were sent that said that the firing was unjust and "that it's unjust ... to keep employees as limited duration when they're working full time for multiple years."
On Friday, Williams and Leibson met with Greene and "we had this sort of funky interpretation going ... sometimes her speaking in English, sometimes Spanish - sometimes understanding him, sometimes not," Leibson said. Greene, the University official who oversees BuDS, told them he had begun the "problem resolution process." Later that night, Williams and 10 members of the SLA attended a Brown University Community Council meeting and several SLA members spoke about Williams' firing.
Leibson told The Herald the SLA hopes "this is the beginning of a broader discussion about limited duration employees first of all - but second of all about the treatment of workers at Brown University."
Greene said the Human Resources Advisory Board "is going to take a look at" the issue of limited duration employees this week. He said the issue should be examined to make "sure that our policies and practices fit with the overall values of the University." He also noted that limited duration employees "can include a number of groups of people," including high school students who work at the Ratty and Johnson and Wales University students working at Josiah's.
Greene said "it totally depends on the outcome of (the HRAB) discussions ... but it could lead to potential policy changes."