Share:
A federal watchdog has found that the Tennessee Coalition to End Domestic and Sexual Violence unlawfully retaliated against and then forced out an employee who blew the whistle about potential misuse of federal funding.
The investigation by the Department of Health and Human Services’s Office of Inspector General details the experiences of Veronica Quinonez, an employee who was “constructively discharged” in 2019 after she raised concerns with her supervisors, including longtime executive director Kathy Walsh, according to the report obtained by the Tennessee Lookout and WPLN News.
Quinonez’s concerns centered on being forced to answer phone calls from victims, some of them in crisis. It was a role that she said went against the strict rules of the Centers for Disease Control grant that paid her salary.
According to the factual findings summarized in the report, Quinonez was directed to maintain two separate timesheets, one that reflected what she actually did at work, sometimes spending 30% of her time handling calls from abuse survivors and tracking down resources to aid them. The other timesheet showed what she was supposed to be doing under the terms of the $2 million violence prevention grant.
Quinonez said she was not the only employee tapped to take those calls.
“So we (had) people that literally worked on accounting and business and had no knowledge of sexual assault, domestic violence answering these phone calls,” Quinonez said in an interview.
“And I told...
Fake documents allege mass medical screenings and child databases near frontlines, provoking fear among parents and local officials and communities. Authorities urge immediate verification through...