Opinion ID: 169447
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Events Leading to Swackhammer's Termination

Text: Swackhammer's termination was not related to her job performance; the parties agree that she was highly successful during her time at Sprint, receiving positive performance reviews and qualifying for an executive talent pool. However, during the summer of 2002, Sprint received anonymous complaints of unethical behavior within Sprint's Customer Service Group, alleging in particular that Garcia had inappropriately taken advantage of relationships with vendors. As a result of these complaints, Sprint Corporate Security initiated an investigation and interviewed both Swackhammer and Garcia. During Swackhammer's interview, Corporate Security asked her about various business trips and email correspondences with Garcia and confirmed that she was aware of Sprint's policies regarding travel and gifts paid for by vendors. Although Swackhammer later signed a statement prepared by Corporate Security summarizing the contents of her interview, she claims that the statement was incomplete and tended to emphasize information that negatively reflected on her and that, had she known at the time that she, along with Garcia, was the subject of the investigation, she would have been more careful in ensuring that the statement accurately reflected her recollection of the interview. Garcia was asked similar questions in his interview, and also signed a statement summarizing his responses. Upon completing its investigation, Corporate Security met with Castanon and Jim Kissinger, then Vice President of Human Resources, to review the results. Castanon claimed responsibility for the decision to terminate both Swackhammer's and Garcia's employment during this meeting, based on the evidence presented there. This evidence included Swackhammer's and Garcia's signed interview statements, excerpts from Sprint's policy manual concerning vendor relationships, photographs of Swackhammer and Garcia aboard a Concorde jet during a business trip, and copies of several emails sent by Swackhammer and/or Garcia. The emails contained references to expensive gifts from vendors, [3] indications that Garcia intended to bring a friend on a business trip for which Sprint would pay the expenses, [4] and an exchange that Castanon interpreted to mean that Garcia intended to share confidential bid information with a third-party vendor. [5] Although Swackhammer argues that the emails were misinterpreted by Castanon and Kissinger and that she did not violate any Sprint policy, Castanon testified that he was convinced that Swackhammer had both violated Sprint's ethical policies and failed to enforce those policies with regard to Garcia. Castanon also testified that, even if the events described in the emails never actually transpired, the appearance of impropriety they created was sufficient in his view to justify termination. Kissinger concurred with Castanon's assessment; the record includes notes of Talking Points that Kissinger prepared after the meeting, listing concerns that allegedly led to the decision to terminate Swackhammer including: (1) not properly reporting or receiving advance approval for vendor-paid entertainment; (2) participating in or allowing an unreasonable level of vendor-paid or Sprint-paid entertainment; (3) soliciting or encouraging vendor entertainment; and (4) creating potential or apparent conflicts of interest and inappropriate relationships with third parties. Kissinger's notes conclude that, from the evidence presented, there appeared to be clear violations of the spirit and intent of Sprint's written policy manual. On October 14th, 2002, Castanon and Kissinger met with Swackhammer and informed her that her employment was being terminated based on the results of Corporate Security's investigation. Castanon and Kissinger terminated Garcia on the same day. [6]