Need some advice here about what next steps should happen in response to a really rough meeting I just had with my manager and supervisor. Let me set the stage here:
I work for a county parks and recreation department in WA state doing the mowing and other such horticultural activities. I’ve worked in parks and rec for a very long time doing just about everything there is, as well as general managing a few private landscape companies. I am very good at maintenance. I started with the county and worked my ass off the last year to get many of their parks (which were not in good shape) back to a high-standard of aesthetic as well as doing some extra work that needed done (redoing some of the parks irrigation systems, weeding that hadn’t been done in god knows how long, hitting a few extra parks to help out regional staff, etc.). I received great feedback from regional supervisors and my immediate supervisor (since moved on because the county is a horrible employer and they cant keep anyone in his position for very long), received exceeding expectations on my performance evaluations and got the same positive feedback from community members (along the lines of, ‘this park looks better than it ever has’). Typically, starting springtime, I move to a 4×10 schedule because with travel time, equipment load-up and un-load, and the size of some of these parks I have to maintain 8 hours can get eaten up pretty quick. This has been a typical schedule for the past couple years even before I got the position. Last season my previous supervisor and I submitted the change of schedule request, like always, and it just sat and sat until they finally approved it and told me the day of that I would be starting (this is in addition to telling me the week-of that the schedule would revert back, leaving me scrambling to reschedule my personal life for the rest of that month- just want to give you an idea of their management style).
Now:
I submit the schedule change request like always, for the same date, same reasoning, etc. Again, it sits and sits, and I keep checking in with the manager who has to sign it, he just keeps saying it hasn’t been signed yet, no reason why. We hired a new supervisor and I also start informing him of the schedule change and he’s completely onboard and agrees it is needed. I ask again if the request has been approved this week and supervisor says manager wants to meet and talk about it. Immediately I know this means it will be denied. Kind of no surprise, this manager is a control freak and if anything remotely benefits an employee they are likely to deny. Today we had the meeting and I’m expecting some weird operational reasoning or maybe staffing expectations, whatever. But instead what I hear is that they are denying the 4×10’s because I wasn’t productive enough last season to warrant a schedule change this year….im floored. I immediately ask for examples of what sites weren’t hit enough, where the complaints were from, he cant give me specifics and says he ‘doesn’t want to go into the details’. Details are the whole point of this maintenance plan and scheduling. I explain what I said above- that I heard great feedback, got extra projects done, never heard any complaints and if I did I was sure to immediately address them and fix them. He responds that he cant help if my previous supervisor didn’t inform me of complaints or issues- my old supervisor was awesome, checked in with me everyday and was very transparent with my work performance. I would have heard if there were issues. Manager also said that part of the reason he is denying my 4x10s was because I took time off last season which resulted in work not getting done. I’m pretty sure you cant use sick time off as a reason to deny a schedule change? Some of that sick time used was due to at-work injuries which I reported. New supervisor was present for this meeting and didn’t really say anything but I’m hoping he saw that there were actually no operational or specific examples of how I wasn’t ‘productive enough’. I didn’t get to talk to him afterwards as this was the end of the day but I plan on touching base with him tomorrow morning and getting his opinion on how to proceed. On the way home I called one of the regional supervisors (1 of 3) and asked her if she had heard any complaints last year or could think of any parks that I hadn’t hit enough. She said that she heard of no complaints and again reaffirmed that I not only did great work but appreciated all the extra work I had done to enhance the parks even further. I plan on reaching out to the other 2 regional supervisors to ask the same thing. I want to file a grievance for sure, but I’m curious as to what I would submit the grievance for- I obviously cant put that the manager is out of touch and lying about the reports of poor performance. I have my performance evaluations that he had to sign saying I was doing a great job in the parks and doing extra work. I can have corroborating accounts of this performance from the regional supervisors. I also plan on doing an open records request for any correspondences between management regarding my name to see if he had in fact told my previous supervisor of complaints and they just never made it to me, but I still seriously doubt it because they typically forward complaints directly to us. Is there anything I’m missing here as far as steps I should take or information/documents I should collect for the grievance? I also save all my timesheets individually every week, so I have a record of all the parks/sites I hit every week and how much time I spent there. I just want to note that I had two seasonals last year that were a navy and a marine veteran- they could not handle the workload and quit early, saying they didn’t know how I did the amount of work I did before they got there. That’s how hard I was working to get these parks in shape.
Here's why I might also look into retaliation:
Before I got the position I have now, I started out as a park attendant- a lesser role just to get my foot in the door. I was scheduled in a region that has a site that I immediately saw was having issues with materials that were contaminating waterways and possibly drinking water. During one particularly bad flooding event, the materials were moving in such a way that I knew illegal discharges were happening (spouse works for regulatory state agency so I am somewhat familiar with environmental laws). I made the mistake of emailing the manager first and asking what we should do to remedy the situation (as I had already brought up concerns before and they, like always, were ignored). When I got no response, I knew I had to report it. The second mistake I made was putting my name on the report initially, even though I immediately contacted the regulatory agency and requested it be anonymous which they changed for me. Since then, that report has led to a very, very serious situation that has now pulled in several other state and federal agencies which will likely result in litigation against the county. Its bad. I can’t go into more specifics or names because it really is that bad. I don’t want to besummer the paranoid weirdo here but none of this came up until the off season, and now they have denied my typical schedule for what literally seems to me like no reason. I know he still has that initial email I sent him, and it wouldn’t take a rocket scientist to put two and two together to know that I was the reporter. Could this be considered retaliation? I was very vocal about issues even before I reported, specifically about the environmental issues so even without that email during the flood, he has to know I said something. What should I do here?
TLDR
My typical summer schedule change was denied by my manager his reason being I didn't get enough done, which is the opposite of the feedback I got from regional staff and my supervisor. Also used me using sick time last summer as a reason to justify not allowing my summer schedule change this year. Might also be retaliatory in nature because they know I was the one that reported environmental violations they are now in deep deep water with state and feds over. I feel like I should file a grievance, what other paper trails should I be making?