Two months after filing a complaint with the Human Resources Department in City Hall, Corazón Pineda-Isaac received the findings of an investigation into a hostile work environment and threatening remarks made by fellow City Council Member Tasha Diaz. While the summary letter to Pineda-Isaac confirms the “slice this b****’s throat” comment, it only recommends sensitivity and workplace violence training to all Council Members and staff.
The HR complaint
On Jan. 24, 2024, after years of what she describes as a hostile work environment, Council Member Corazón Pineda-Isaac filed a complaint against then-Majority Leader Tasha Diaz with the City of Yonkers Human Resources Department. The complaint details dates and locations of incidents where Diaz had made improper and sometimes violent comments. This complaint was ultimately spurred by a remark overheard by other Council Members and staff immediately proceeding the Jan. 2 re-organization meeting. At the meeting’s conclusion, varying reports have Diaz saying something like, “let me get out of here before I slice this b****’s throat” while referring to Pineda-Isaac.
Click here to read the full complaint against Tasha Diaz.
This report citing eyewitness testimony received further credence by a year-and-a-half old audio recording. In May of 2022, Pineda-Isaac overheard Tasha Diaz speaking loudly from within her City Hall office. As the remarks were threatening to Pineda-Isaac, she took the opportunity to record them. While most of the minutes-long audio refers to petty insults, a clearly violent threat stands out. “You want to smirk and laugh, Corazón? Keep thinking that s*** is funny. I’ll f****g slap the taste out your mouth.”
Following the release of the HR complaint and audio recording, former Diaz staffer Jenika Delgado transmitted a letter to the Council. In it, she describes her own abuse while employed by Tasha Diaz. From forcing her to work while ill with Covid-19 to threatening her with a false reports to Child Protective Services, Delgado urged her local government to, “take appropriate measures to remove her from office.” The Council heard that call and acted the following day.
Vote to remove and a vote to censure
While not taking the extreme action of removing Tasha Diaz entirely, the City Council held a special meeting on Feb. 8 to dole out a more immediate, but lessened punishment. As the Council voted in Diaz as its Majority Leader in January, it swiftly voted her out in February. Replacing Diaz was the Majority Whip John Rubbo of the Fourth District. And filling in as Whip was the newly elected Member, Deana Robinson.
While not present for the meeting herself, Diaz issued a response on social media. She implies this action stems from a political attack campaign against her. While noting that no findings of any investigation have concluded, the allegations forming the basis of her punishment are therefore “unsubstantiated stories.”
While removing someone from a leadership role only a month after their appointment would be the big news, a last-minute item appearing on that special meeting’s agenda drew even more notice. Immediately after removing Diaz as Majority Leader for her years-long documented abuse, the Council voted to censure a victim of that abuse, Corazón Pineda-Isaac herself. While purely a performative resolution scolding the secretive audio recording, this condemnation drew a teary-eyed response from its target. In her remarks, Pineda-Isaac noted the paradoxical nature of punishing her for the very recording that substantiated the basis for removing Diaz. She further questioned why Diaz did not receive the same formal censure.
Multiple investigations
In addition to the investigation launched by the Human Resources Department, both Pineda-Isaac and Diaz filed criminal complaints to the Yonkers Police Department. While Pineda-Isaac’s complaint alleging harassment by Diaz is well-worn, Diaz reacted with a novel counter-complaint claiming that the recording of her threatening remarks violated NY Penal Law 250.00. This law prohibits individuals from recording others if they are not a party to the conversation, i.e. eavesdropping. As of today, no police report on either complaint has been delivered.
Despite the slow crawl of the YPD reports, HR Commissioner Carlos Moran submitted his report on Pineda-Isaac’s complaint on March 20. The two-page letter begins by dismissing any claim that acts by Tasha Diaz against her constituted “unlawful harassment or discrimination” based on any protected status such as gender or race. Despite that dismissal, interviews conducted by the administration appear to support at least one allegation present in the Jan. 25 complaint. They assert that the statement made by Tasha Diaz that she would slice Corazon Pineda-Isaac’s throat violated the City’s Workplace Violence Prevention Policy. Therefore, a violation of this policy, vis-a-vis a violent threat, constituted a hostile work environment.
As the reach of the HR Department is limited in regard to elected officials, the letter only proposed two suggestions. Firstly, the department recommends sensitivity and communication training. It suggests that the goal is to, “[enhance] understanding between employees […] and enables building good interpersonal relationships.” Another exercises proposes Workplace Violence Training. It simply states that the goal is learning “how to respond and prevent such violence within the workplace.”
Given the broad and non-binding nature of the two suggested remedies, it may appear that elected officials in Yonkers can behave outside of the bounds of not only municipal employees, but likely an employee of any private business as well.
Read the full letter from HR Commissioner Carlos Moran
On January 25, 2024, you sent a complaint via email to the Department of Human Resources (HR) containing certain allegations against City of Yonkers Council Member Tasha Diaz. HR promptly commenced a thorough workplace investigation which included conducting interviews of various City Council staff members, including yourself. The investigation has been concluded.
Human Resources has reviewed the allegations made by you, which do not appear to constitute a claim of unlawful harassment or discrimination based on your membership in a protected class. There is therefore no basis to conclude that the conduct complained of violates any federal or state anti-discrimination or harassment laws. Nor does the conduct appear to violate the City’s Equal Employment Opportunity Policy, defined as “discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, age, national origin, alienage, citizenship status, ethnicity, marital status, familial status, creed, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, or any other basis prohibited by law. This applies to all full-time, part-time or temporary employees with regard to hire, compensation, promotion, termination, and other terms, conditions and privileges within City employment.”
However, it appears that Council Member Tasha Diaz made comments that violate the City’s Workplace Violence Prevention Policy in that they could be construed to have caused a hostile work environment based on the threat of violence.
HR concludes that the allegations regarding the comments made by Council Member Tasha Diaz after the January reorganizational meeting are substantiated in that they were threatening statements that had no professional justification. These comments violate the City of Yonkers Workplace Violence Policy, which prohibits “any act against City of Yonkers employer/employees and is committed by persons either who have or do not have an employment-related connection with the City, and involves: Physical acts against persons or City property, or Verbal threats, or vicious statements that are meant to harm or cause a hostile environment, or Written threats, vicious cartoons or notes, and other written conduct of intense distortion that is meant to threaten or create a hostile environment, or Visual acts that are threatening or intended to convey the threat of injury or hostility.”
As a result of the investigation, HR recommends that the following training be provided to all City Council elected officials and staff members.
1.) Sensitivity/Communication Training: focuses on employee awareness of their attitudes and behaviors towards others. Allows employees to learn how to communicate successfully with one another and with customers. The purpose of Sensitivity/Communication Training is to help employees be more sensitive and accepting of the existing diversity within the workplace. It enhances understanding between employees within the department and enables building good interpersonal relationships with other team members.
2.) Workplace Violence Training — prepares employees to identify risk factors and signs of workplace violence and how to respond and prevent such violence within the workplace.
Thank you for bringing this matter to the attention of the Department of Human Resources. If you have any questions, please contact Commissioner of Human Resources, Carlos Moran, at 914-377-6176.
