A top San Antonio River Authority exec has resigned after an investigation revealed that he didn’t report a potentially racially charged incident to human resources, KSAT reports.
John Chisholm, SARA’s director of operations, was briefed on an incident in January in which a worker tied rope to resemble a noose and hung it at maintenance shop. Two other employees registered complaints, but Chisholm didn’t report the incident to human resources as required under policy, according to KSAT.
Officials with the public river-protection entity only learned about the incident eight months later, the station reports. An employee mentioned the matter during an exit interview last month, prompting a probe into its handling.
SARA General Manager Suzanne Scott told the Express-News Chisholm resigned after being told he would be fired.
“[Chisholm] didn’t follow [human resources] policy, he didn’t use good judgment and we just felt like it was the appropriate action to move forward with separating our employment from him,” Scott said.
Late last year, SARA conducted employee training on appropriate workplace behavior, during which executives were told to report potentially offensive infractions, the daily also reports.
The training was in response to a widely reported incident last fall in which a SARA supervisor was dismissed after hurling a PVC pipe at a coworker and injuring him.
Stay on top of San Antonio news and views. Sign up for our Weekly Headlines Newsletter.
Related Stories
This article appears in Oct 23 – Nov 5, 2019.
