Former executive says Arizona DES blackballed fired workers with do-not-hire list
Economic Security Director Tim Jeffries created an enemies list of public employees he had fired, and misled Gov. Doug Ducey's Office about the "Do Not Hire" list, ex-DES assistant director says.
- A third former DES employee says Director Jeffries created a "Do Not Hire" list of fired employees
- Jeffries tried to keep other state agencies from hiring fired DES workers, ex-assistant director says
Arizona Department of Economic Security Director Tim Jeffries created a do-not-hire list of public employees he had fired, tried to prevent them from getting other state jobs and later misled Gov. Doug Ducey's Office about it, according to a former DES assistant director.
Former DES Assistant Director Nereyda Lopez told The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com that Jeffries first established the list a few months after Ducey appointed him on March 2, 2015. Lopez is the third former high-level DES employee to publicly say such a list exists.
Lopez said she warned Jeffries, who has fired a large number of public employees including Lopez, that a do-not-hire list was unethical and likely illegal because he was potentially preventing employees fired at DES from getting another state job.
Since Jan. 1, 2015, the agency has dismissed at least 475 workers, with more than two dozen telling The Republic they were fired without cause. They also believe they were terminated because of their gender, age and ethnicity or because they were gay or had a disability. The agency also has fired some of the best and brightest state workers: Roughly half of those fired during the past two years scored well enough on annual reviews to receive merit bonuses worth hundreds to thousands of dollars apiece.
About 1,600 state employees have been "involuntarily terminated" since January 2015, when Ducey took office and gave agency directors a mandate to shrink state government. Ducey has not publicly specified a target number of employees or savings. Fired employees immediately lose health-care coverage for themselves and their families.
'It's a factual untruth'
Jeffries has adamantly denied the existence of a do-not-hire list. He added that the majority of his 7,500 employees have "never been happier" working for him.
"It's a factual untruth," Jeffries said. "There has never been a no-hire list in this agency."
Jeffries said it was his decision to relinquish his ability to fire employees by seeking assistance from the Arizona Department of Administration, the state's personnel agency. He said he needed more support. The Governor's Office, however, said that is not true. Ducey on Tuesday stripped Jeffries and his managers of the right to terminate state workers. No other state agency director has lost that power.
Jeffries this week also suggested that two employees who spoke to The Republic after being fired by his agency had been terminated for reasons specified in their personnel files. But a review of those records showed neither of the women had any disciplinary problems.
Other records at DES show both women received merit bonuses each of the past two years because of exemplary work. This year, both received the maximum merit bonus — $1,000. That amount only could be awarded if an employee exceeds expectations on an annual review.
After Ducey's action, Lopez came forward and said Jeffries had ordered a DES human resources director around August 2015 to forward a do-not-hire list to the state Department of Administration so it could be shared with other state agencies. She did not know if the list was sent.
Fired Juvenile Corrections chief to Doug Ducey: Pay me or I'll sue for wrongful firing
Lopez also said she and Jeffries attended a meeting with some of Ducey's top staffers in late October 2015 regarding prison recidivism. At the end of that meeting, Lopez said, Ducey adviser Gretchen Martinez confronted Jeffries about a do-not-hire list, but he denied that one existed.
Daniel Scarpinato, Ducey's spokesman, said Martinez, now Ducey's deputy chief of staff, asked Jeffries about a specific former DES employee she had heard was being prevented from obtaining another job in state government. She asked Jeffries if that was true, and he said it was not, Scarpinato said.
Scarpinato said the Governor's Office does not believe a do-not-hire list ever was sent to ADOA, but "we are conducting a review to confirm this."
Megan Rose, spokeswoman for the Department of Administration, said her agency is unaware that any list was sent. She said there is a list called "disqualification for consideration of employment" for former state employees who have engaged in "egregious or fraudulent behavior."
But, she said, that list only has a handful of employees on it. Otherwise, she said, ADOA does not have any other list that would prevent an involuntarily separated employee from seeking another job in state government.
Mary Jo O'Neill, a regional attorney for the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, has said a no-hire list could be illegal if employees placed on it had filed internal or external equal-opportunity complaints or engaged in any kind of employee organizing effort.
High-performing workers fired without cause
Lopez said other top DES administrators still working for Jeffries are aware of the list. She alleged that it was kept by Jeffries' executive assistant.
Two other female ex-DES employees also fired by the agency told The Republic that Jeffries created such a list.
One of those women said as soon as someone was fired at DES, the personnel office would call that person's manager and ask if the ex-employee should be placed on a "regrettable" or "non-regrettable" list.
A Republic investigation: Public Disservice
Despite high performance reviews, those women were fired without cause. One woman said she believes she was fired because she was gay. The other said she believes she was fired because she's an older employee.
Along with coming under fire for dismissing so many employees, Jeffries has been criticized for sending email blasts to employees that:
- Urged staff to give up job protections in exchange for more money.
- Promoted his religious beliefs.
- Criticized a marijuana-legalization measure on the statewide ballot.
Roberts: Ducey and Jeffries should explain mass firings of state employees
Early in his tenure, Jeffries received media coverage after he said he had fired numerous "bullies, liars and bad actors" at DES. However, in recent months, ex-DES employees said, Jeffries has fired hundreds of workers for no reason.
Jeffries, by a few pennies, is the second-highest-paid agency director in Arizona. He is paid $215,249 a year.
In an interview this week, Jeffries was unapologetic about his firing policies.
"No one is entitled to work at DES. It is a privilege to work at DES," he said. "It is not the agency that exited them. They exited themselves."
Reach the reporter at craig.harris@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-8478.