DALLAS — LGBTQ advocates are calling for change at the Dallas Arboretum after several complaints over discrimination. On Monday, the arboretum’s board met for an hour and revealed a list of actions they plan to take, including reviewing the work culture and changing several policies.
In the past several months at least three Equal Employment Opportunity Commission complaints have been filed against the Dallas Arboretum, all by people who faced LGBTQ discrimination. That led Resource Center, an LGBTQ advocacy group, to send a letter to the Dallas Arboretum last week calling for several changes. In a response Monday evening, the arboretum said it has already taken several actions including hiring an HR consulting firm and it also outlined what it plans to do moving forward.
A redacted EEOC complaint provided to WFAA from Lambda Legal, the law firm representing the employee, from last November, is from a nonbinary employee who says they started to face poor treatment from managers after putting pronouns in their email signature and other employees did the same. The manager said the pronouns and any pins worn by employees showing their pronouns also had to be removed while email signatures with quotes and bible verses could continue being used.
The employee, whose name was redacted, also said programming highlighting LGBTQ people couldn’t be mentioned in marketing. After getting visibly upset in a meeting where managers told the employee the arboretum wouldn’t “promote and agenda,” the employee was fired the next week, according to the complaint.
“The bottom line is there’s discrimination happening at the arboretum and there’s a culture that is not supporting its employees,” Cece Cox, Resource Center’s CEO, said. “Current and former employees have spoken to me. They’ve spoken to my colleagues and we’re hearing a lot of things that aren’t right.”
In its response Monday, the board’s letter says it has made several changes to its employee manual including allowing for the use of pronouns in email signatures.
"The Arboretum strives to improve and to be an outstanding example of inclusiveness,” Board Chairman Jim Ryan said in the response letter. “The recent claims have caused the organization to take steps over the past months to examine and improve its policies, procedures, practices and culture so that the organization can undergo institutional change and ensure that all of its constituents are heard and welcome.”
Most recently, David Jeffcoat, a 57-year-old arboretum employee, filed an EEOC complaint saying that after seven years of working at the arboretum he received poor treatment after he revealed he was gay. The complaint said Jeffcoat was hired in 2014 as a gate attendant before becoming a supervisor.
In October 2021, he called his manager to tell them his “partner” had COVID-19. He said he soon started getting harsher treatment and harder tasks. In February on 2022, Jeffcoat slipped on ice and then missed the next day of work.
He says a later he was fired with the listed reason being a failure to complete parts of a performance improvement plan, but Jeffcoat says the firing stems from coming out to his manager.
“We are sad that an employee would feel they had been treated unfairly and will thoroughly investigate the allegations made in the Charges of Discrimination,” the Dallas Arboretum said in a statement response in mid-June. “The Arboretum does not comment on confidential personnel matters, including investigations.”
Last week, Cox sent the letter to the arboretum outlining concerns and recommendations for change.
“While Dallas is a shining example of welcoming and inclusion, that shine today is tarnished by the Dallas Arboretum,” the letter said.
It continues by outlining issues in the complaints and calling for an investigation into them. It also outlines several requests for the arboretum.
First, the letter asks the arboretum to determine if workplace practices violate Dallas’s non-discrimination ordinance and therefore its contract to manage the 66 acre of land the city owns.
It also asks for mandatory cultural competency training for employees and for to institute LGBTQ+ protective policies in its handbook including allowing for pronouns on email signatures, pronoun pins and FMLA policies for LGBTQ individuals and families.
“It’s really important that workplaces are welcoming and inclusive of all their employees,” Cox said. “This is a progressive city that has people coming into it by the thousands. Business is booming. All kinds of people live here.”
The letter ends by asking for equitable benefits for employees including gender-affirming healthcare and a clear plan on how the arboretum plans to implement the policies.
Since sending the letter, Cox said Arboretum’s president, Mary Brinegar, texted Resource Center’s board president to share that the Dallas Arboretum had already taken most of the actions recommended.
“I don’t know what those things are. I don’t know if that’s correct,” Cox said. “What I do know is changing a culture is systemic and it takes time, attention and accountability so I hope the arboretum is focus on those things.”
At Monday’s meeting, Ryan outlined that besides the new handbook policies, the arboretum also updated its online DEI statement and is requiring a mandatory staff training that will discuss diversity.
“We haven’t been sitting still when all of this has been percolating,” Ryan said in an interview with WFAA Monday. “We’ve taken several actions to improve our diversity, equity and inclusion program and we’re taking additional actions to make the arboretum an even better place than it is now.”
The letter response discussed at the meeting includes five new steps the arboretum plans to take in the future. They include getting feedback on pay structure, leave policies and complaint procedures, reviewing hiring policies with an emphasis on diversity, supporting new DEI programs at the arboretum, reviewing drivers of employee turnover and a work culture assessment done by the hired HR firm.
“We want a neutral independent party to come in and do those interviews with employees and do an independent review of what the culture is,” Ryan said. “We’re a welcoming place and we make it a priority to be inclusive both internally and externally. That’s what I want people to know.”
The response also addresses the claim from the Resource Center that the arboretum is violating non-discrimination policies, saying, "Counsel to the Arboretum has completed its investigation of the allegations in two of the EEOC claims and those investigations did not result in a finding that the Arboretum engages in employment practices in violation of Dallas City Code provisions that prohibit discrimination.”
If the arboretum had violated the contract, it could have led to action from the city to find new management for the attraction that sees more than 1 million visitors every year.