Here in Northeast Ohio take our snow removal very seriously, especially (we hope) at the airport, where an icy or snow-covered runway could cause disaster. In 2015, airfield manager Abdul Malik-Al complained to his bosses about his belief that the airport did not sufficiently support its winter-weather crews. Those comments led to the FAA levying a $200,000 fine against the airport.
These issues, however, appear to remain. According to Scene Magazine, on January 19, airfield-maintenance manager Robert Henderson allegedly rounded up his staff and threatened them with retaliation if they leaked any information to the press. Unluckily for Henderson, but luckily for us, an employee recorded his outburst:
If anybody is caught associating with anything like that, the penalties will be great. So I’m calling y’all together now. Let’s go ahead and put it out there; let’s talk about it right now. So we can get it out of the way. Because if anyone is caught sitting there having a sideline conversations about this, or with [unintelligible] did to somebody else, or let me send it to this friend or let me me do that, that could connect you with something that’s, that’s frowned upon in the organization—to take internal stuff and leak it out to the media. So please don’t engage in, in all that. I’m putting it out right here, right now. It ain’t nothing to whisper about.
Congratulations, Cleveland Hopkins Airport—or, more specifically, Robert Henderson—you are our second nominee for the Worst Employer of 2017.