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Domestic Assault Tennessee - Federal regulators have found that the Tennessee Coalition to End Domestic and Sexual Violence unlawfully retaliated and forced an employee to leave after reporting a potential misuse of federal funds.

The investigation by the Office of the HHS Chief of Staff was detailed in a report by Veronica Quinonez, an employee who was "laid off" in 2019 after she raised concerns with her supervisors, including longtime manager Kathy Walsh. Sexual Dismissal, Tennessee Lookout and News.

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Quinonez's concern centers on being forced to answer calls from victims, some of whom are in crisis. He said the role violated strict rules for the Centers for Disease Control grant that pays his salary.

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Based on the facts outlined in the report, Quinonez was ordered to maintain two separate schedules, one to reflect his actual work at work, and sometimes to devote 30 percent of his time to handling abuse survivors' calls and tracking down resources to help them. Another timeline shows what he should do with the $2 million violence prevention grant.

"So we (have) people who work in accounting and business, who don't know anything about sexual harassment, domestic violence, taking those calls," Quinones said in an interview.

"I tell them if someone comes to us and is suicidal and not trained to handle these kinds of crisis calls, it could be very bad. We may not be able to handle the situation well. I've been told it's about being a team. Everyone working together has to help."

Walsh declined to be interviewed or answer several questions, instead issuing a statement along with the nonprofit's board chairman, who disputed the federal findings. They noted the coalition's continued cooperation with the federal government and said they "look forward to a smooth resolution of this matter."

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"We are aware of the allegations, but dispute all conclusions and findings made to date and intend to fully rebut them when we have the opportunity."

Led by Walsh for more than 30 years, the coalition has built a solid reputation as the state's leading voice for victims of domestic and sexual violence. It doesn't offer many direct services, but it runs educational programs and lobbies for legislation to combat domestic and sexual violence, the nation's most common violent crimes.

The report detailing Quinonez's firing in 2019 echoed troubling findings about the league outlined in two state audit reports released two years earlier in 2017.

An auditor's report released in Tennessee found that Coalition employees were ordered to falsify time sheets and interviewed in an accounting procedure over $515,000.

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An audit of the state's criminal justice programs, also released in 2017, found that the nonprofit's board did little to follow up on complaints of workplace toxicity or even abuse. According to the audit, current and former employees describe the league's leadership and environment as "authoritarian," "violent," "intimidating," "manipulative" and "Casey [Walsh] afraid" - Walsh Board denied Sh. and Walsh's characterization.

The coalition took corrective measures after the 2017 audit, and the state has not detected any significant financial abuses since then.

But a federal report summarizing what happened two years after the state audit reflected similar complaints about the workplace culture. It cited three former employees, whose identities have been redacted from the report, who "expressed similar concerns about Walsh's mismanagement of league personnel and reported retaliation against employees who questioned Walsh's orders." , "unhealthy communication habits" and "Walsh is notoriously reticent to accept 'criticism' from anyone."

"Additionally, accounts from other Coalition employees suggest that Walsh was particularly known for attacking employees who disagreed with Walsh," the report said, adding that Walsh had a motive to retaliate against Quinonez.

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Mel Fowler-Green, an employment lawyer for the plaintiffs who has no role in the case, reviewed the 17-page report and called it "a masterclass in revenge in the workplace." (Fowler-Green is on the board of Nashville Public Radio.)

Whistleblower protection training is required for the league as well as federal CDC employees who participate in the DELTA program, which funded Quinonez's position, the report recommends.

It also recommends back pay for Quinonez and leaves the door open to "alternative or additional action" by the federal Department of Health and Human Services.

The OIG report focused on the conduct of Walsh and then-Assistant League Director Dawn Harper between May 2019 and October 2019 and was based on personnel files, documents, emails and comments from staff and board members, including Walsh and Harper. Member interviews.

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Quinonez began working at the coalition in February of that year as a program manager with a major grant: the CDC's $2 million DELTA Impact grant focused on violence prevention. Only nine state coalitions in the country have received Quinonez's "trend-setting, ground-breaking" grants.

Her role is to lead statewide education programs that teach people how to recognize and stop intimate partner violence.

But by mid-May, Harper ordered Quinones to take calls from survivors of sexual and domestic violence. The league does not have a crisis hotline, but victims are often not aware of this.

"When someone calls the domestic violence hotline, it's often a matter of life and death," said Carol Wick, an international expert on gender-based violence who once ran a women's shelter.

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Quinonez initially began answering calls as directed, but he began to express concerns to his supervisor about whether he was violating CDC guidelines by spending time helping callers. Like many sources of federal funding, the guidelines for agencies receiving DELTA grants require employees to perform only tasks related to the grant.

Quinonez is particularly concerned about the calls because prior to 2017, state audits questioned the league's scheduling practices.

Quinonez told the News and Tennessee Lookout that in May 2019, Harper was on the phone with federal grants officials to discuss whether the guidelines would allow him to take the call. But after Quinonez later told investigators she had been specifically instructed "not to talk on the phone," Harper asked her to keep two separate time sheets.

Quinonez remembers telling his colleague in an interview with a reporter: "I don't know what you're trying to do, but I want to cover my ass. If it's illegal." He began to demand everything in writing from his supervisor, And collected a number of paper trails, which they shared with federal investigators.

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He told investigators that on a given week, he spends about 30 percent of his time fielding calls from survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence, rather than handling DELTA grant projects. These calls can be sensitive, time consuming and in some cases require urgent action by poorly trained staff. These include calls from people with suicidal tendencies. Some of those calls included connections to multiple other agencies to get victims the resources they needed, he said in an interview.

After raising the matter with Walsh at a staff meeting, Quinonez told investigators that "that's when the revenge started."

In September 2019, Quinonez sent an email to CDC appropriations officials to express his concerns. Then he relayed his response to Walsh: It said the league may have to revise its budget to reflect when Quinones took the call.

Two weeks later, Quinonez was subjected to a performance improvement plan, or PIP, the nonprofit's disciplinary action. The plan ordered Quinonez not to contact the CDC, even though he was the primary contact for the DELTA grant. It also cited other alleged violations of agency protocols, but Quinones said some were never put on paper.

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Kathy Walsh, executive director of the Tennessee Coalition to End Domestic and Sexual Violence, testifies at a May 2022 legislative hearing.

Harper said he wanted Walsh's involvement in developing and revising the PIP — but Walsh told investigators he had no hand in drafting it. However, the report said the emails "demonstrated their cooperation".

"The facts do not support Walsh's claim, but do support Quinones' PIP, which was implemented after Quinones reiterated his concerns about using grant funds to pay for non-grant activities," the report said. Inspectors cite the release of PIP as a factor in finding him subject to retaliation.

On Sept. 27, a day Quinones was off work, Harper notified her by email asking questions about the DELTA grant. In his response, Quinonez stated that he could not contact the CDC without permission. He went on to say that he felt the league's environment was "toxic" and he wanted "nothing to do with it".

Victims Need To Be Heard, They Need To Be Believed'

He also responded to an email from federal grants officials, noting that he could no longer respond to them because of his performance plan.

When investigators later interviewed the recipient of Quinonez's emails, his name was

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