NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — They are the people who take your calls in some of your worst moments.
911 operators have an extremely stressful job.
But some who answer emergency calls in Nashville say their boss makes the job even more stressful and they describe the working environment at Metro's 911 Call Center as "toxic."
Now those employees have some powerful supporters who are calling for change.
Metro Council member Joy Styles told NewsChannel 5 Investigates, "This man is unhinged. And there is no reason why this city should still have him on payroll."
She was talking about Steve Martini, the Director of Metro's Department of Emergency Communications.
Styles said Martini needs to go.
According to Styles, there have been serious complaints about Martini and his management style since shortly after he took the job in 2020, including allegations of harassment, retaliation, and creating a hostile and toxic work environment.
"This is on us [Metro]. This is our failure. We knew this man was a problem years ago and we [Metro] did nothing," Styles stated.
Tricia Eby was a 911 dispatcher with Metro for 23 years but made the difficult decision to leave the job shortly before qualifying for a full pension, she explained, because she couldn't take it anymore.
"It was the intimidation and the bullying factor," Eby told NewsChannel 5 Investigates.
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Eby said in 2022 she was called in for a meeting with her boss, Steve Martini as well as two other supervisors. And based on Martini's past behavior with her and other employees, Eby decided to secretly record the conversation.
In one part of the more than 30 minute recording, Martini can be heard telling Eby, "No, it’s being a jerk, Trish. There’s a huge difference between speaking bluntly and being a jerk and you’re falling firmly in part two, right?"
Eby said of what you hear on the recording, "I did nothing to warrant what I was accused of and the behavior."
Martini can also be heard telling Eby, his voice rising, "I need you to understand that I’m not playing games here with you, OK? If I had enough support under 6.7, I would fire you now."
Eby told NewsChannel 5 Investigates, "I’ve never in my life had a boss ever treat me that way."
Eby said Martini was upset because she had asked to step away from being a trainer. She said he also believed that she had filed a grievance with the employees' union because he had hired someone without posting the job.
This comes up during the recording.
Eby is heard pleading, "I’m not in the union. I did not file the grievance. I’m really proud to work here."
Martini responds, "There are only four people here in this room, Trish, that knew about it."
She replies, "Sir, that’s not true. The whole floor [all of the 911 dispatchers] is talking about it."
Martini then says, "I don’t disagree, but nobody knows about your involvement with that except for the four people in this room so that either means that the three of us [Martini and his two assistants] are running around causing discord on the floor. Or you’re a liar."
NewsChannel 5 Investigates asked Eby, "You felt like this was retaliation?"
"It was definitely retaliation. He made it really clear in the meeting that I’m lying," Eby stated.
In fact, Martini said to her in the meeting, "This [the grievance] is a shot at me, so this [his reaction] is me shooting back."
He goes on to inform Eby, "We are restricting anything you participate in and I don’t need to hear so much as a peep. OK, Trish? None. "
She responds, "Yes sir."
Martini continues, "And when I talk about insubordination, I’m talking about with the hammer. I’m not going to walk into it slowly. I’m going to swing hard and fast."
"This man should’ve been fired on the spot from the berating that he gave an employee in front of other staff members," council member Joy Styles suggested.
But Styles said instead of firing Martini, Metro's HR department decided to hire an outside company to survey employees. In that survey, employees expressed fears of being ostracized or even fired if they spoke out publicly against management. They described concerns they had about “heated exchanges” between employees and senior leadership.
But Martini told NewsChannel 5 Investigates, "I don’t see the intimidation or retaliation."
And he insisted that the recorded meeting with Tricia Eby was an isolated incident.
"That was probably one of the worst examples of my engagement with an employee in my 21 years in public safety communications. I’m embarrassed by it. It was not how I should have interacted with Trish and if I had to do it over again I would," Martini said.
The outside company that surveyed employees in 2023 recommended that Martini receive professional executive coaching, something that he says has been very helpful. And now two years later, he's got an outside group doing employee focus groups to find out what needs to be changed.
"How do you change the feeling among employees that this is a toxic work environment?" we asked him.
"I am very excited. I am very excited to hear the feedback from our HR partner that we’ve engaged with with the focus groups to bring some of those solutions to bear."
"But you’ve had surveys and you’ve had focus groups and nothing’s changed?" NewsChannel 5 Investigates asked.
Martini responded, "I disagree that nothing has changed. We’ve definitely made changes."
But council member Joy Styles maintained, "Nothing has changed."
Styles, who heads up the Metro Women's Caucus, said after council members started hearing more complaints about Martini from current employees earlier this year, the Caucus asked for another survey. This survey found concerns about "Poor training" "Lack of Support" "Poor Communication" and a "Toxic Work Culture."
"And the majority are saying nothing has changed. This place is still toxic. He’s a horrible person," Styles said.
The Metro Council voted in June to ask the Mayor's office for an independent investigation. Earlier this week, the Women's Caucus voted to send a strongly worded letter to the Mayor's office expressing concerns about the situation.
Joy Styles wants more.
"Joy Styles personally and as an individual would like him to quit today or be fired. There is enough information that this man has done for him to be let go," she explained.
The Metro Women's Caucus took particular interest in the employees' concerns because some 70 percent of the employees at the 911 Center are women and most of the complaints are coming from women.
An anonymous group of current employees began sending emails to council members earlier this year about the working conditions and several current 911 operators told Caucus members that intimidation is still a big problem there.
Meanwhile, Metro HR said they haven't done more because many of the complaints they have received have been anonymous and not specific enough.
As for Martini saying he regrets what he said during his meeting with Tricia Eby, she told NewsChannel 5 Investigates that he has never apologized to her.
