Court employees are raising concerns about comments allegedly made by a Vermont court office manager that they’re calling racist.
Employees are alleging that Caledonia County Court Operations Manager Tammy Tyda made insensitive remarks as a Black Lives Matter protest was taking place outside of the courthouse on June 3. They’re also raising concerns that the incident is not being properly investigated by the judiciary.
A complaint detailing the comments was sent June 15 to Court Administrator Patricia Gabel, Vermont State Employee Association representatives and state judiciary Human Resources Manager John McGlynn.
A copy of the complaint was also obtained by VTDigger.
Gabel said in an email to VTDigger that the judiciary cannot comment on personnel issues but that her office “has begun its process in this matter.”
“The Judiciary’s Personnel Policy provides that any employee or court user may file a complaint with the Judiciary. The same Personnel Policy also guides the Judiciary in its review and response to complaints,” Gabel said. “For example, where a complaint is made against an employee, the Judiciary engages in a fact finding process that includes hearing from the accused. Only after the facts have been established can the Judiciary make a determination as to the accuracy of the claims, and what the appropriate response will be, if any.”
Tyda did not respond to multiple requests for comment for this story.
As the Black Lives Matter protesters were walking by the St. Johnsbury court in early June, employees of the courthouse had gathered to observe the demonstration. While one employee and two security guards were discussing the protest, Tyda had approached them, according to the complaint.
According to the employee who had heard Tyda’s comments and paraphrased them in the complaint, Tyda had turned to the person and said, “Have you ever lived in the South? Because I have. And there are tons of them there. They walk around like THEY are superior/better than US.”
The employee could not recall if Tyda had used the word “superior” or “better.” According to a paraphrased recounting in the complaint, Tyda also allegedly said “they live in poor neighborhoods” and that “they’re mad at us because their ancestors were slaves but they’re not slaves,” referring to Black people.
The employee asked not to be named for fear of possible reprisal, but the person’s account was corroborated by one of the security guards present during the discussion.
That officer acknowledged the statements had been made and said he “cringed during the conversation,” according to the complaint. He said he tried to correct Tyda’s remarks about Black people being “superior” or “better” than others.
He told Tyda, according to the complaint, “I lived in the South for 5 years and I don’t know what you’re talking about. They aren’t looking to be seen as superior to us, they want equality.” He said Tyda seemed to be offended by what he said and then left the room.
The other guard said he did not recall what Tyda had said. Neither security officer responded to a request for comment from VTDigger.
Tyda has also been named in a racial discrimination lawsuit filed this past fall, which alleges that she discriminated against an African American court clerk who was working in Washington County under Tyda’s supervision at the time. Tyda has since been moved to the Caledonia County Court.
Tyda also had a separate complaint and grievance filed against her this past summer — both were related — through the VSEA, according to the association’s communications director Doug Gibson. He said the VSEA could not provide further details about the complaint or grievance.
In an interview with VTDigger, the court employee involved in the complaint against Tyda said the manager’s comments were ignorant.
“I don’t think she’s a bad person,” the employee said. “I don’t know that the judiciary is a place for somebody that truly thinks like that.”
After the employee heard the comments, the person walked away “red” and “physically shaking” with anger and immediately recounted the incident for Michelle Bachand, probate registrar in the courthouse. Bachand then filed the complaint on behalf of the employee about two weeks later.
Bachand said she was “horrified” when she heard from her coworker what Tyda was alleged to have said. She said she believes the comments were “blatantly racist” and that they signify that Tyda may have a bias against people of color in her role as court manager, which could impact the impartiality of the judiciary.
“How can we, as the judiciary,” Bachand said, “offer fair and equal access to justice to the members of our community? How can we do that if the person who is supposed to be setting that example is making comments like this?”
“It’s so scary to me that somebody could base a decision on access to justice based on somebody’s color,” Bachand said. “We’re the judiciary. We’re supposed to be so neutral and so fair. That’s not the picture that’s being painted.”
Neither Bachand, nor the employee who heard the comments, have been contacted by the judiciary’s human resources staff to investigate the incident with Tyda. Bachand said she’s “disheartened” and thinks that the judiciary isn’t taking Tyda’s comments seriously. She said Tyda should be on administrative leave while the judiciary investigates the incident.
The employee who heard Tyda’s comments also expressed frustration that no one has followed up on the incident.
“I’ve never worked for anybody with such a poor human resources department that made me feel so uncomfortable that you couldn’t go to them,” they said.
Margaret Crowley, chairperson of the Judiciary Bargaining Unit, said the Vermont Supreme Court should investigate Gabel and McGlynn for not taking action to investigate the incident for at least two weeks after receiving the formal complaint.
Crowley is a family division case manager in Chittenden County and was involved in the dissemination of the complaint to the VSEA.
“I think that a really big part of this whole movement right now is to hold white people accountable for what we call, what everybody is calling, white silence,” Crowley said. “I’m feeling like the judiciary has been given this information, it’s been given this opportunity to end white silence, to act upon our ability to speak up and say ‘This is not OK.’”
“I feel like there has to be at least some sort of acknowledgment that something happened here,” Crowley said. “Set aside her duties, you’re not going to report to work, we’re going to do some interviews. … But none of that happened. So again, it’s just like brush it under the rug.”
