Some Rebekah’s workers call in sick one day after unexpected
firings
Gilroy – Fifteen workers at Rebekah Children’s Services called in sick Wednesday, one day after the unexplained firing of three top officials at the nonprofit agency.
Employees were informed Tuesday that the agency’s board of directors had fired Chief Executive Officer David Tollner, Chief Operations Officer Michael McGrath and Chief Administrative Officer Patrick Wiley. The officials are among the five top-paid employees at the agency, which provides intensive services to children who suffer behavioral, emotional or mental problems, and their families.
Workers were given no explanation for the firings, but were warned orally and in writing by Sharif Etman, the chief financial officer who has now assumed the role of interim executive director, that they are not allowed to speak to the nonprofit’s board of directors or to the press.
The agency has forwarded all questions to Chief Development Officer Eleanor Villarreal, who has declined to comment on the dismissals as a personnel matter.
She confirmed that 15 of the agency’s 164 workers called in sick Wednesday, though she could not say if they worked in the Gilroy branch or in San Jose. Rumors swirled in the aftermath of the firings that a walk-out or “sick-out” would take place in retaliation for the firings. Villarreal could not confirm if workers called in sick again Thursday, but said the agency requires a doctor’s note if an employee misses more than three days of work. A call to the human resources department was not returned.
“They decapitated Rebekahs,” said one worker who spoke anonymously with the Dispatch.
Tollner is a former lawyer hired as an executive director in May. McGrath and Wiley have both worked at the agency for more than six years. Villarreal said she has spent recent days notifying major donors and grant makers about the firings. She said she has not received any inquiries from the people or agencies who finance Rebekah Children’s Services.
“They understand that these are confidential personnel matters, the same as if it happened at their business,” Villarreal said.
The RCS board of directors plans to hire a new executive director after the New Year, Villarreal said. She could not say when McGrath and Wiley would be replaced. All three earned more than $100,000 as the top three administrators at the agency, according to tax filings from the IRS.
The 11-member board of directors, which met and made the decisions Saturday, is elected by the statewide Oddfellows-Rebekah Fraternal Order, which founded the agency as an orphanage in 1896. Secretary Margareut Oleson, a Gilroy resident, declined to comment on the matter. Other board members are scattered across the state, from Sacramento to Fontana.
Rebekah Children’s Services, a 501(c)(3) organization, serves the behavioral healthcare needs of children and their families, both on-site and in the community. The IOOF Avenue facility is licensed as a foster family agency and a residential group home serving emotionally disturbed children and teens, and provides prevention and education services to 2,000 children in 11 Gilroy schools each year.
