Oh Newman. . . .

When I was discriminatorily fired on February 22, 2018, Angela Jones and Michael Loizzi read from pre-written talking points.  The two (supposed) reasons for my termination: 1.  I accepted dinner and a ticket to an illusionist show in New York City during a business trip from Source Marketing.  2. I accepted tickets to the Allstate Sugar Bowl from Allstate who was an AARP Services partner (ASI).  I was informed that I violated the Code of Conduct and that is why I was fired.  Well, that was the reason given that day.

It should be noted:  There were two anonymous complaints referencing a "Director" put into the anonymous complaint box found on the same day the beginning of January 2018.  The Director turned out to be me. One stated this Director accepted $400 Broadway tickets from Source Marketing (which was untrue as I never accepted $400 tickets, the illusionist show we went to cost $65.00) and also went to the Sugar Bowl and saw the game in the President of Allstates box - I only told one person I thought we would be in an Allstate box - we weren't, we had normal seats. The other stated a Director went to the Allstate Sugar Bowl with a Manager and Marketing was not involved. 

We’ll start with Source Marketing and look at all that happened that week.  I’ll try to keep this succinct as possible for you.

Mark and I had taken my family to Disney World the week before this trip.  When I returned to work on Monday, I was on a flight to Atlanta to have dinner with UPS and then a meeting with them on Tuesday morning for 2 hours.  Komeka Freeman, Andrea Smith, and Gina Brown were all on that trip.  UPS took us to and paid for dinner.  We met with them the following morning for about two hours and flew back to DC.  While I was at the airport getting ready to board, I heard from my employee who informed me that they were on their way to the airport and spending the night at their counterpart at Source’s house (I would later learn from this individual that my employee had invited themself and they felt like they could not say “No.”)  They told me that I could not say anything as this wasn’t costing ASI anything as they were staying for free (this would turn out not to be true). 

I took my flight, landed at Dulles, came home to drop my bags, hopped in my car, and drove to the office.  I had forgotten my work computer in my office the previous week. Normally this didn’t matter as I almost always traveled with my personal MacBook because the pc I had from work was so awful.  This time, there were things I needed on my work pc, so I headed to the office – this was around 5:30 pm.  My manager Victoria was there and as I had been out of the office the previous week, she had somethings she needed to speak to me about.  At the time, I had really forgotten about this employee leaving and spending the night at the vendors as I already had a long day working and traveling and was getting a download from my manager, and she had several things she needed from me that day. I was at the office for over an hour and didn’t get home until after 7.  Mark had made a meal, so I ate while I worked.  I finally finished what Victoria needed around 10:30-11 pm.  I sent her an email with what she needed at that time so if someone from Ethics actually investigated what I shared, they would have easily been able to find this email on the AARP server to corroborate what I said.  They chose not to.

When my employee booked the Source meeting for that Wednesday afternoon, I already had the trip booked to UPS in Atlanta, so my plan was to get to NYC early, hopefully get into my room and work.  I processed my travel authorization in our system, my manager approved this trip and even stated that it was a legitimate business trip on the stand. If my room wasn’t ready, I knew I could work from the business center.  Since the previous day started at 8 am and didn’t finish until around 11pm, I moved my flight the following morning out and paid the $75.00 change fee.  As I testified on the stand (see trial testimony), I had Silver status with American and they allowed you to change your flight within 24 hours for $75 and no increased fare.  I did not expense this to AARP, I paid it myself.  No reason outside of I didn’t feel like AARP should pay for my getting  a few more hours of sleep. I didn't realize that this would be used as a way to say this trip was personal, not business.

I got to my hotel, room wasn’t ready so I went to the business center and worked. This would have been discoverable on the server as I used the VPN to log on.  My employee called me to let me know the Source contact and they were driving into the city at that time, this would have been around 12:30.  They said they were coming to the hotel, so I said we would meet, but she ended up not coming to the hotel.  They would later tell Mr. Easley that they had lunch with me and their Source contact, this was not true as I had lunch by myself at the Hotel Benjamin and submitted the receipt for expense.  It was a stupid thing to lie about, really. As is evidenced here (see attachment) Mr. Easley did not call this employee a liar in his report for not telling the truth about lunch.  Out of the 4 reports Mr. Easley did that were part of my litigation - three straight people and me, he found actual evidence that the three other people investigated had lied to him, but I am the only person he had a section about lying and I was the only one NOT LYING! My testimony has stayed 100% the same for more than six years.

When I got to the meeting room, this employee and the Source contacts things were there.  I was there about 30-45 minutes alone as they had apparently gone out for coffee.  We met for about two hours, although for some reason Mr. Easley narrowed the meeting down to 90 minutes and at trial it became an hour.  After our meeting, we went to dinner which was a normal thing for us to do and as is always the case, we continued to discuss business.  After dinner, we went to an illusionist show that was so far downtown we were almost in alphabet city.  I had not asked to see this show, I was informed that one of our contacts had purchased the tickets and it was something they wanted to see.

The following morning, I woke up and worked in my hotel room until it was time to head to Columbia University to see a research celiac specialist doctor, and yes Ms. Davis – while there are many excellent doctors in Washington, DC, I was seeing a specific doctor that is a leading researcher for Celiac disease as I was having symptoms that were not explainable.  I took an Uber to Columbia, which I paid for, met with the doctor for less than an hour – which I took as Administrative Leave on my timecard and it really would have been my lunch hour anyway, but wanted to make sure everything was as accurate as possible- then took an Uber to LaGuardia and flew home.  Once home, I worked for the rest of the day.

SIDE NOTE:  The defense counsel was (allegedly) caught in a hot mic moment that Friday afternoon March 15th as they waited in the courtroom for the jury verdict to come back, as the courtroom mics were on and I had friends who were waiting online for the jury to come back and heard them. So, everything they talked about during that time was broadcast to anyone logged into the court room.  Ms. Davis stated something to the affect that she hoped that the jury saw that I could have seen a doctor here in DC, but that is not true.  As I shared, I saw a research specialist that was only at Columbia.  Also, - Yes, Ms. Davis, Michelle and Barack Obama are very famous and its interesting you went to Harvard law when they were there, and to the other part of the defense team – its not OK to make fun of people with PTSD – its cruel and shows your true lack of character.  Also, who would do that in a courtroom when waiting for a jury verdict where the plaintiff has been diagnosed with PTSD?!?  I’m sure the defense team will say I am lying, that is their go-to, but this was heard by more than one person.

It should be noted:

1. The trip to NYC to meet with Source happened twice a year for 7-8 years, we would go to NYC twice and they would come to DC twice as we met quarterly.  Mr. Easely failed to include this information in his findings.

2. When Source traveled to DC, we paid for everything as agreed to in our Master Services Agreement with them: Hotel, Tickets, and Time.  So, us going there or them coming here did not save travel costs or agency costs for AARP.

3. As agencies bill their clients for expenses incurred, AARP really paid for our dinner, so was that meal a Valuable Privilege as AARP paid for it?  No one cared to ask as that wouldn’t fit their narrative.

4. During Litigation Discovery, it became VERY clear that everyone who was interviewed had dinner and would attend events like shows and sports with vendors/partners all the way up to the CFO/COO, it was how we did business.  I did exactly what my straight co-workers did, but for me it was classified as a “Valuable Privilege” and I was fired.

5. Mr. Easley determined in his investigation that this meeting should have been a phone call, based on what, I have NO IDEA?!?  Also, I didn’t learn of his “findings”, accusations or anything having to do with the investigation until I sued and was able to read all the interviews and reports which were produced during discovery. 
   

   1. He stated that thie employee and I made the trip for strictly personal reasons: they wanted to stay at the vendors and I had a doctors appt.  This is simply not true, but truth didn’t matter, especially when they think no one can fight back.

   2. Once I was able to review the documents, I saw that not all I shared as part of his “investigation” made it into his findings, documents were hidden, and the things there were twisted to make me out to be a liar.

   3. It should be noted that Jon Easley never managed a creative agency, he had worked as an investigator with the USPS before joining AARP – (he was a Newman).  Not sure he is experienced or informed enough to determine what business meetings with a creative agency should or should not happen in person.

6. As I shared as part of my testimony, during the time I managed Source at ASI, we tried one video conference call and remember this is before the pandemic and it was around 2014, technology wasn’t where it is today. At ASI, video calls could only happen in the CEO’s private conference room which had an elaborate system and it took someone from IT to come help us get it started.  The call did not go well and we never tried it again.

7. Mr. Easley never spoke with anyone at Source Marketing during his investigation. 

8. After the trip I learned that this employees plane ticket to a different airport to stay at the vendors home cost 3 times what mine did, so in fact, it did cost AARP money.

   1. Had Heather discussed this with me, I would have shared staying at a vendors home is a “No-No.” She did not ask, I was informed.

   2. Heather should have disclosed her friendship with the vendor.  To my knowledge, she did not.

9. I spoke to my manager Victoria about Heathers travel and staying at the vendors as I approved her travel and I didn’t want to be blamed if it came to light later and I didn’t say anything. 

   1. Victoria recommended that I speak with someone from HR to make sure it was OK which is what I did.  

10. I was not involved in Heathers termination, so I cannot tell you the specific reasons she was fired.

So, there you have it, I was informed that this trip was one of the reasons I was fired, for accepting Valuable Privileges in the form of dinner and show. I was taking a trip I had been taking twice a year for 7-8 years. I was doing my job exactly the same way all of my straight co-workers did.  I was targeted and fired. Once I was able to see the final reports and the interviews, I saw that vital evidence was not included, the investigation was sloppily done and incomplete, information I had shared was excluded, and I had been repeatedly mischaracterized as a liar by Mr. Easley.

Lastly, following litigation and discovery, the reason for my termination from this trip shifted, actually the reasons for my termination continually shifted. That's how you know I was discriminated against, when the reason you were given changes as facts come to life. AARP's lawyers stated in court that we were in contract negotiations and that is why dinner and a show were wrong. This simply is not true. As I shared on the stand, Procurement managed the contract with all vendors of which Source was one. Source was the winner of the Request for Pricing (RFP) that AARP Procurement managed. They were chosen out of 3 possible agencies to do the work.

I did not have a hand in making the final decision, it was all based on each of the agency’s submission to the RFP.  Once Source won the RFP, Procurement managed the Master Services Agreement (MSA) which is the contract and Procurement were the final approvers and signers for all the Purchase Order's (PO) or Statement's of Work (SOW) that ladder up to this MSA.  This is the standard way AARP/ASI handled all vendors, which Source Marketing was one.  The MSA contained all their rates, travel expense allowances, it also gave a broad list of the services AARP could purchase from Source.  Each year we created a new PO/SOW (the terms are inter-changeable) for the work they would be performing in the upcoming year.  These were not contract negotiations, as Procurement had already done that with the MSA.  The PO outlined the specific tasks and gave the budget that I would have to use for that calendar year.  For 2018, we had gotten approval to continue to use Source for one more year without a new RFP as Sue Lilly had come to me in October stating the business needed to be re-RFP'd. As we were already in Q4 and there was no way we could get an RFP completed and possibly move to a new agency before the end of the year, we agreed we would do the RFP in 2018. This was approved way before we went to NYC to meet with Source in December. During the trial, AARP's attorney was like a dog with a bone, even showing the PO that Scott Saunders from Procurement signed in December. Again, it was a PO, not a Master Services Agreement. It wasn't a contract. The PO showed the MSA that it laddered up to. As you might be gathering, FACTS DON'T MATTER, trying to paint me as a liar and cheat to justify my wrongful termination is all that mattered to them. Even if what they said was a lie.