Multiple attacks and ensuing trauma made worse by workplace toxicity and bullying

October 29, 2024 — When Ruth Johnson joined state service in 2005, she couldn’t have imagined the turmoil she would face over the next nearly 20 years – from violent attacks, to requests for job adjustments being ignored, to eventually being pushed out of her job. 

Johnson was the victim of an attack while working at the Staten Island DDSO, where administrative staff warnings about a client’s violence toward other clients and staff fell on deaf ears. In September 2014, while working at South Beach Psychiatric Center as a social work assistant, she suffered the most brutal attack of her career. 

“While on duty at SBPC, a patient who should have been transferred to a secure unit, but was not, attacked me,” Johnson said. “The three staff on the unit were unable to stop the patient from continuously punching me in my face. The panic button was not working and unfortunately, we discovered it after it was pressed. An alert did not go out due to the failure of the panic button. I held my arms crossed over my face for about five minutes.” 

Eventually, another patient came behind the staff desk and intervened, she said.  Johnson spent the next 45 days recovering from the physical and psychological injuries. Even upon her return, she was still suffering and missed occasional additional days. 

“I told the executive director I could no longer handle working on the units,” she recalls. 

Knowing her future had to lie in other areas of the agency, she interviewed for a vacant discharge coordinator position and was hired. This role did not involve working on the units. Instead, she was responsible for seeking housing assistance in a pilot reintegration program, advocating for forensic people with mental illness. 

Over her remaining years at South Beach, she continued to require dental procedures to restore knocked out and misaligned teeth; psychotherapy; dermatology; orthopedic; and occupational therapies through Workers’ Compensation.  

She continued to seek opportunities within her agency, taking the social work assistant 3 exam and interviewing for jobs that did not involve direct patient contact. In March 2017, she accepted a position at Brooklyn OPWDD as a social work assistant 3/gatekeeper because it didn’t involve direct contact. In 2021, that position was shut down by a manager (referred to here as a member of management), who demanded she take a role as a habilitation specialist 1, a grade 14, despite her title of social work assistant 3, a grade 17. While she was able to keep the salary grade, she was sent out in the field. 

“She informed me that I would be responsible for working in Brooklyn OPWDD IRA homes,” Johnson said. “In addition, I would be responsible for conducting goals which would involve direct care support for the people OPWDD serves with mental illness.” 

PEF Field Services requested a meeting with the agency’s HR department, but that meeting was declined because the member of management allegedly did not provide information on Johnson’s new duties. 

“[The member of management] continued to push out-of-title work,” Johnson said. “In December of 2021, I was unable to deter [the member of management] from plans to force me into a position that due to my post-traumatic stress disorder, I cannot do.” 

In January 2022, she submitted a request for a reasonable accommodation. The member of management’s continued inconsistencies on questionnaires led to an eventual denial – a year later. 

Johnson was advised to cease work immediately in January 2022 after a significant relapse. While she was out of work, personal items and confidential files were removed from her office. She sent 24 letters, including doctor’s notes, saying she could return to work but not direct client care. Despite her desire to continue working, she was never offered a position that would not involve direct client care. 

After 19 years of state service, Johnson was terminated in January 2024 under Section 71 of New York State’s Civil Service Law, which governs the termination of state employees with work-related disabilities. 

“I’m not telling my story to focus on my termination, it’s about how the matter was processed,” Johnson said. “Why did HR not demand [the member of management] give a complete list of my duties when the PEF representatives were on the phone conference? Why did it take a few weeks short of one full year to process my application for reasonable accommodation and receive a final determination?” 

Johnson asserts the actions of the member of management – toxic from the start – were never curtailed or called out. And at a time when the state struggles to fully staff agencies, toxicity has no place in already stressful workplaces.