Security guards at the de Young Museum in San Francisco have accused institution leadership, as well as their own union representation, of enabling a toxic workplace, reports the San Francisco Standard.
The article published earlier this month details a decade-long laundry of grievances against the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco and the city, which operates the de Young and Legion of Honor, including wrongful termination, whistleblower retaliation, and verbal threats. Per the Standard’s reporting, the city has paid out more than $1 million to settle seven lawsuits from current and former guards—with more lawsuits reportedly incoming.
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The most recent lawsuit reported was filed in July by Mohammad Joiyah, a former museum guard at the de Young, and alleges “disability discrimination, religious and racial harassment, failure to accommodate, retaliation (per both state medical law and whistleblower law), and wrongful termination.” Joiyah, who is identified as Muslim, said managers called him a “terrorist,” and accused Ramiro Rodriguez, the manager of museum security, of threatening to “go home, bring a gun and shoot” him. (Joiyah settled one prior lawsuit against the Fine Arts Museums in 2021 for $200,000.)
A representative of the Fine Arts Museums told the Standard that “Mohammad Joiyah was terminated with just cause.” Rodriguez did not respond to a request from the Standard for comment.
The article also reported news of a lawsuit filed in 2017 by De’Mario Grant, a former security guard at the de Young Museum, against the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco and the city, alleging “harassment and retaliation.” According to Grant, he suffered chronic nerve and spinal injuries from his labor-intensive responsibilities. His requests for extended work leave were allegedly denied by managers and HR, all of whom “doubted his disability and demanded excessive paperwork.”
Grant won a $285,000 settlement in 2019 and indicated to the Standard plans to file another lawsuit against the Fine Arts Museums, this time alleging wrongful termination and whistleblower retaliation.
Current and former security guards accused the workers’ union, SEIU 1021, of failure to resolve the alleged pattern of ongoing abuse. This, they claim, is in part due to a conflict of interest, as the union represents six of the department’s nine managers. The union and workers also said efforts to reach agreements on policies that ensure safe working conditions for security staff have been “continually delayed” by the museum.
A representative of the Fine Arts Museums told the Standard that the series of lawsuits filed by security guards “concern events primarily from 2014 to 2016 and emphasized that leadership has changed since then.” The representative reportedly added that its current management “is diligent about strictly following employment rules to avoid disputes and potential settlements,” and that procedures are handled “by the book.”
Seven of the nine lawsuits, the article notes, allege incidents of workplace mismanagement that occurred after 2016, and current and “recently former” staff have indicated in interviews that the abuse is ongoing. Several lawsuits accuse Tabari Shannon, the director of security, and Hugo Gray, the associate director of security, of encouraging the toxic workplace. A 2021 lawsuit filed by former museum guard Rick Lam described Gray as once stating in front of a union representative, “I don’t have any problem putting my foot on people’s necks when I want something done.”
Gray, Shannon, Rodriguez, and Smithwick are reportedly still employed by the Fine Arts Museums. The city settled Lam’s lawsuit in December and awarded him $350,000.
ARTnews has contacted the Fine Arts Museums and SEIU 1021 for comment.