Whistleblower in Wrongful Termination Lawsuit Accuses Capitol Insider of Drinking Alcohol in Workplace, Sexual Harassment and Inviting Employees ‘To Drink Alone With Him’
(Photo: AP Photo/Phil Sears)
In a whistleblower lawsuit filed on Tuesday in the Leon County Circuit Court, a well-known Capitol insider accused the CEO of Florida TaxWatch of drinking in the workspace, harassing female staff members and retaliation. The former high-ranking employee at the nonprofit organization alleges he was fired after coming forward with complaints against the CEO.
Tony Carvajal is a longtime Tallahassee policy analyst and worked at the Florida TaxWatch Research Institute Inc. for less than three years before being fired in April 2023. TaxWatch CEO, Dominic Calabro has led the private non-profit for four decades and fired Carvajal from his position as executive vice president.
TaxWatch is most known for its annual list of questionable items in the Florida state budget. The organization’s executive committee is made up of executives of businesses like Publix, Florida Power & Light and AvMed Health Plans.
The lawsuit filed last week argues that Carvajal was wrongfully terminated after he complained to other TaxWatch leaders about Calabro’s behavior.
Calabro “was drinking alcohol in the workplace, making inappropriate comments in the workplace, making advances towards females, ostracizing employees who did not join him in drinking alcohol,” the lawsuit stated.
Carvajal said, “no corrective action was taken” after he reported Calabro’s misconduct.
TaxWatch’s attorney denied the allegations presented in the lawsuit.
“It is unfortunate that a former employee chose this path after his April 2023 termination. Mr. Carvajal’s initial complaint filed with the U.S. Department of Labor resulted in a finding that his allegations are without merit and that his discharge for misconduct was appropriate. Florida TaxWatch is a private non-profit entity and will not comment any further on pending litigation,” executive vice president and general counsel for TaxWatch, Jeff Kottkamp said in the statement.
After Kottkamp’s statement, Carvajal said the remarks didn’t fully address the allegations.
“They are not directly addressing the harassment questions, the drinking. There is a second complaint that he should explain further because it is a second whistleblower complaint that has not run through its complete course,” Carvajal told News Service.
Calabro reportedly “was sexually harassing female employees by making inappropriate comments and sexual advances” and invited female employees “to drink alone with him.”
When Carvajal brought forward his numerous complaints to TaxWatch’s chairman, Piyush Patel, he was directed to Steven Evans, who is Calabro’s “presidential adviser.”
In one instance, Carvajal reached out to Evans in November 2022 and noted he was “having to confront” Calabro “more and more about employees complaining that Calabro was harassing them,” as stated in the lawsuit.
“It’s hard for people to come forward, so if you don’t come forward, you’re leaving the next person in line at risk,” Carvajal told News Service. “I’ve walked on the right side of this for my entire professional career so that people don’t ever question me. This is tough, but if I, with my position and my stature, don’t do this, who will?”
The lawsuit will have several steps before it makes its way to court if gets that far. Until then, the proceedings may force TaxWatch’s hand in dealing with the allegations against Calabro.
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