Denver City Councilmember Flor Alvidrez exhibited behavior to staff in her office that likely amounted to bullying under the governing body's Code of Conduct, according to an internal email from the city's human resources staff. Alvidrez denies much of the behavior.
Alvidrez "admitted to the alleged behavior, acknowledging it likely violates the Denver City Council Code of Conduct as bullying," according to a Dec. 21 email written by a city HR staff member to one of the first-year councilmember's former aides who filed a complaint. The document does not detail what behavior Alvidrez admitted to.
In an email to Denverite, though, Alvidrez denied bullying her staff.
"I did not bully my staff and I did not yell at them," Alvidrez wrote in the email. "I was doing my best to build relationships with open communication with my staff. Unfortunately we did not get there despite my efforts. There was a breakdown in communication and I could tell some staff members weren't happy. I was not aware how unhappy they all were. I often asked them what I could do better and they had no suggestions."
Denverite obtained and reviewed complaints filed against Alvidrez as well as emails and documents associated with the complaints through an open records request.
The complaints in the documents allege a culture of dysfunction and miscommunication in Alvidrez's office. Aides claimed they were yelled at by the Councilmember, subjected to inappropriate language from her and cried because of the job, much of which Alvidrez denied in a statement to Denverite.
All four of Alvidrez's aides resigned between December and January. Before they quit, all four aides submitted HR complaints about Alvidrez's behavior.
None of the aides sat for an interview with Denverite. Some asked not to be identified out of fear of retaliation.
Alvidrez, who represents District 7, which includes Athmar Park, Baker, Speer, Ruby Hill and South Denver, is also currently under investigation by the Denver Board of Ethics after one of the former aides submitted a complaint about the councilmember's spending. Alvidrez said in a newsletter sent to her constituents on Wednesday that she is cooperating with the pending investigation and that she does not agree with that separate complaint.
In one instance detailed in the HR statements, an aide alleged that Alvidrez, her manager, used a crude insult in Spanish meant to offend one's intelligence or competency.
Alvidrez told Denverite the insult was not directed at the aide. She provided a screenshot of a text message in which she clarified to a staffer that the language was not aimed at them, and apologized for using the word. The exchange shows the staffer accepting the apology.
"I need to work on my language regardless," Alvidrez wrote in the text message to the aide. "That's not acceptable or ok."
Another staff member claimed Alvidrez referred to a fellow aide as a "cancer" who needed to be removed in order to improve office culture. In another instance, an aide alleged that the councilwoman said she did not care if fellow staff were fired or quit. Alvidrez told Denverite she could not recall saying either of the statements.
"The tone of her voice and words she used made me feel belittled and small," one aide wrote in a complaint.
In the complaints, aides detailed what they felt was a dysfunctional office culture. They felt Alvidrez poorly communicated with staff, held mistakes over their heads and took away responsibilities as retaliation.
Multiple staff members wrote that they left the councilmember's office in tears and called each other crying.
"Working in the District 7 office has been the most toxic work environment I have ever experienced," one aide wrote.
Another aide described a situation where Alvidrez took away her communications, budget and team meeting responsibilities and told the aide would focus only on constituent concerns.
Alvidrez denied claims of retaliation.
"Regarding taking responsibilities away from staff, I was trying to find their strengths and allocate duties accordingly and had inquired with the city about [a] 'strength finder' tool I was hoping to use," she wrote in an email to Denverite. "This was not retaliation."
Alvidrez went on to say that she believes staff dissatisfaction stemmed from confusion about holiday time off near the end of 2023, and from when she told her staff she could not give them bonuses from leftover office money.
"I believe everything escalated after a meeting in which I told my staff I did not think it was ethical for them to not work and get paid during the weeks of Thanksgiving and the week between Christmas and New Year's day when other city staff members do not have access to that and I also told them that they could not receive bonuses from the left over funds in my budget," Alvidrez wrote. "Prior to that they were very happy and even referred to me as the best boss ever."
None of the aides' complaints that Denverite reviewed mention bonuses.
In one of the complaints, an aide wrote that Alvidrez initially told staff they could take days off work near the holidays without using vacation time.
When staff realized that was not allowed under city rules, Alvidrez told some staff they could take time off without using vacation days, while hourly staff would have to either work or put in time off requests, raising concerns about fairness, according to an aide's complaint.
Describing the situation about time off, another aide wrote that "staff felt confused and blindsided by lack of clarity and continuous misinformation from the CW [councilwoman]."
Alvidrez told Denverite, in response to claims of miscommunication, that she told staffers "it was the same for all of them. No one could take time off and not use PTO."
The HR statements also expand on claims made in the ethics complaint for which Alvidrez is currently being investigated by the city's ethics board.
Multiple staff members wrote in statements to HR that they recalled hearing Alvidrez yell at a staff member in her office when asking the councilmember for receipts from a trip, something also alleged in the ethics report. When asked if she ever yelled at staff, Alvidrez wrote, "No."
Two aides claimed Alvidrez asked one of them to attempt to use a specific parking exemption given to Councilmembers to get an overdue street sweeping ticket dismissed.
Denverite reviewed an email between an aide, Alvidrez, and a Department of Transportation and Infrastructure staff member about the request to dispute a parking citation. The DOTI staff member pointed them to the main city parking ticket portal.
Alvidrez told Denverite she could not recall asking a staffer to seek the ticket dismissal.
According to internal documents, Alvidrez recognized her behavior as "bullying" in a conversation with HR, and agreed to take remedial steps.
According to an email from human resource manager Danean Jenkins to one of the former aides, Human Resources did not move forward with a longer-term investigation because an employment law advisor did not find evidence of discrimination, harassment or retaliation. Instead, Jenkins characterized the behavior as "bullying."
"CW [Councilwoman] Alvidrez admitted to the alleged behavior, acknowledging it likely violates the Denver City Council Code of Conduct as bullying. With no dispute on the facts, further investigation is deemed unnecessary," Jenkins wrote in the email. "Although the Denver City Council Code of Conduct lacks provisions for discipline, remedial steps have been proposed to CW Alvidrez. She has accepted the employment law attorney advisor's invitation to assist in finalizing these steps for immediate action. Remedial measures may include training, leadership coaching, and possibly a formal written response, though the latter is not mandated by policy."
In an email to Denverite, Alvidrez said that she took a Respectful Workplace Training at the end of December.
Senior Assistant City Attorney Allison Moore, who worked on the complaints, declined to comment. Jenkins and City Council Executive Director Bonita Roznos did not respond to Denverite's request for comment.
In the email to the aide, Jenkins wrote that Council President Jamie Torres was included in a meeting with Alvidrez, City Council Executive Director Bonita Roznos and an employment lawyer, to discuss the complaints. In an interview with Denverite, Torres said she did not see the complaints but recalled Jenkins' findings. Torres said that Alvidrez is in the process of hiring new staff.
"I think in terms of a follow-up or next steps, obviously there isn't a relationship to repair, the Councilwoman is starting fresh with new staff," Torres said. "I think what we ended with was establishing, which I am seeing evidence of, establishing a much tighter connection with our HR coordinator, and making sure that both support is there where it might be needed and training is there where it might be needed as Councilwoman Alvidrez brings on new staff."
