Texas Border Business
BROWNSVILLE, Texas – A San Benito mechanic, who was fired after he cooperated with fellow workers to complain about serious abuse by his supervisors, obtained a settlement from his employer, Equipment Depot. of Pharr. The worker, Martin Enrique Garza, who is represented by Texas RioGrande Legal Aid (TRLA), described the settlement as “finally getting justice” from Equipment Depot, which he said had tolerated the abuse of supervisors who tried to silence workers through threats and retaliation.
“Our supervisor yelled and swore at us, and even tried to get into a physical fight with me,” said Garza, who had worked for 23 years at multiple branches of Equipment Depot, which has 35 locations in 13 states. “Then when we complained, he and another manager tried to keep us quiet by threatening us dozens of times and finally by firing me. I hope my settlement sends a message to workers – you have a right to speak up with your co-workers to try to improve your workplace.”
TRLA attorney Kathryn Youker, who is representing Garza, said, “This is an egregious case – one worker lost his job and others said they were mistreated. But it’s also symptomatic of a larger problem. Management is able to silence the voices of employees by threatening retaliation, because they often don’t realize they have the right under federal law to speak up together about their working conditions, whether it’s about their pay, work policies, abusive supervisors, or anything about work. The federal law gives workers who are retaliated against for raising their concerns the remedies of back pay, reinstatement to their job, and other relief.”
Garza said the abuse started when a company employee, Joe Marichalar, was moved into the position of supervisor of the service department where Garza worked. He said that Marichalar routinely yelled at him, called him derogatory names, subjected him to harsh, unjustified discipline, and in other ways humiliated and demeaned him. Although Garza complained to another manager, no action was taken.
Other workers claimed they suffered similar abuse, and in early 2018, Garza and several of his fellow employees wrote letters of complaint that they sent to the company’s president in Waco. He also complained by email to a human resources representative. During a subsequent meeting with the president, vice-president, and human resources representative, workers reiterated their complaints.
Garza alleged that a day after the meeting, Marichalar and another manager threatened the workers in their monthly meeting and repeated the threats during every monthly meeting for the next five months. Other abuse, including shouting and swearing at workers, also continued. In September 2018, Garza was called into the office of Marichalar and told that he was fired.
With the help of TRLA, Garza filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board, which opened an investigation into his case. The NLRB explains on its website that workers have a right to join together to improve their wages or working conditions, even in the absence of a union, and that employers are prohibited from retaliating against workers for exercising their rights. According to the website, the NLRB “protects the rights of employees to engage in ‘concerted activity,’ which is when two or more employees take action for their mutual aid or protection regarding terms and conditions of employment. A single employee may also engage in protected concerted activity if he or she is acting on the authority of other employees, bringing group complaints to the employer’s attention, trying to induce group action, or seeking to prepare for group action.”
Garza had filed a discrimination complaint with the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) which was also resolved with the settlement.
Established in 1970, Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, Inc. (TRLA) is a nonprofit organization that provides free legal services to about 23,000 low-income Texans in 68 counties. TRLA’s mission is to promote the dignity, self-sufficiency, safety and access to justice for low-income Texans by providing high-quality legal assistance and related educational services.
