Mother of VA Loma Linda employee who committed suicide files $5 million claim

The mother of a former VA Loma Linda Health Care System irrigation technician who committed suicide in 2022, purportedly after enduring more than three years of harassment and retaliation from his boss, has filed a $5 million personal injury claim against the federal government.

Sharon L. Sperry, who lives in Sedona, Arizona, alleges in the claim submitted last month to the Veterans Administration that “countless complaints” from her son, Ryan Joseph Sperry, and other VA Loma Linda employees regarding grounds supervisor Martin Robles’ hostile behavior were ignored, exacerbating her son’s PTSD.

Sperry, a former Marine who was 43 when he died, wrote a five-page letter to the VA Loma Linda Human Resources Office months before his suicide, recounting that working with Robles had taken a toll on him emotionally and physically.

“I have begun to drink more than normal, and have been hospitalized with gout, which was due to increased drinking, which I have never had before,” Sperry wrote. “I was hospitalized from chest pains.”

Sperry complained that Robles has a reputation for taking advantage of new, probationary employees, frequently requiring them to buy him coffee and doughnuts and chauffeur him around for free.

“He basically tells them they need to do whatever he asks them to do, no matter how wrong it might be, because he will get them fired or give them less hours if they don’t do so,” Sperry said. “He will intimidate, bully, threaten them.”

Sperry also said that over a two-month period, the grounds crew documented that Robles was tardy more than 15 times, sometimes arriving at work two hours late without putting in for leave.

“He works whenever he wants, starts whenever he wants, leaves whenever he wants, and uses flex time as the excuse,” he wrote.

Juan Varela of Menifee, who was Sperry’s partner, is hopeful that the claim and a subsequent lawsuit will send a strong message that hostile working conditions at VA Loma are unacceptable and should not be tolerated.

“We are trying to get justice so that Martin Robles doesn’t do this to other people,” Varela said. “It’s sad that I had to lose Ryan.”

Termination recommended

VA officials said Friday, Sept. 29, that while they are unable to comment on the claim, they nevertheless mourn Sperry’s death and offered condolences to his family and friends. VA Loma Linda Medical Director Karandeep Sraon did not respond to a request for comment.

A 2021 federal investigation recommended that Robles be fired for creating a hostile and racially charged work environment. However, instead of being terminated, he was inexplicably promoted and remains employed at VA Loma Linda.

“There were numerous instances where inappropriate language and racial slurs were used which appears to be a common practice,” a Veterans Administration investigative board said in a heavily redacted, 61-page report obtained by the Southern California News Group. “Inappropriate and discriminatory hiring practices were found, which have contributed to the lack of trust, poor morale and fractured culture.”

The Administrative Investigation Board recommended Robles be removed from employment because of overwhelming evidence to support he was “intimidating, exhibited bullying behavior, threatening behavior, and contributed to a hostile work environment,” said a source familiar with the probe.

Robles also was the focus of two other VA Loma Linda investigations in 2020 and 2022 that substantiated allegations that he fostered a hostile work environment. Details of those two investigations were not available.

The Southern California News Group obtained more than a dozen emails and complaints filed with the VA over five years, all detailing Robles’ troubling interactions with employees.

Congressional probe

House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs Chairman Rep. Mike Bost, R-Illinois, and Rep. Jay Obernolte, R-Hesperia, who are investigating widespread whistleblower complaints alleging retaliation, harassment and a toxic work environment at VA Loma Linda, have said they are dissatisfied with an explanation from Secretary of Veterans Affairs Denis Richard McDonough regarding why Robles remains employed.

McDonough said in a June letter to Obernolte that VA Loma Linda management decided against the recommendation from federal investigators to fire Robles.

“In the case of the Loma Linda supervisor, the AIB report recommended the employee’s removal,” McDonough said in the letter. “After careful consideration of all the available information as well as consultation with the Office of General Counsel, however, management decided that a different penalty was more appropriate. The employee received an administrative action.”

Robles continues to be monitored by VA Loma Linda management, who reportedly have not received any new allegations of retaliation or hostile work environment.

Vanessa Jarvis, an attorney representing Sharon Sperry, said McDonough’s explanation is unacceptable.

“Claims by the VA that Martin Robles is being closely monitored or that there have been no new allegations of harassment or hostile work environment do not excuse the fact that Martin Robles was allowed to harm Mr. Sperry and is still employed,” she said. “The VA’s continued employment of Robles shows that the VA accepts, excuses, and even ratifies this kind of conduct.”

Bost and Obernolte also are sponsoring a bill to reinstate the VA’s ability to quickly fire problematic employees and have demanded that the federal government turn over unredacted copies of all investigations conducted this year involving high-ranking VA Loma Linda officials.

The issues involving Robles are among a string of controversies at VA Loma Linda that have received scrutiny from the federal government.

In 2022, government fact-finders determined VA Loma Linda mismanaged more than $1 million in patient transportation funding over a three-year period by colluding with ambulance companies through informal “handshake” agreements and unauthorized contracts that circumvented the government’s official procurement protocols, possibly for personal gain, according to a blistering confidential report obtained by the Southern California News Group.

Jarvis said she intends to file a lawsuit against the government on behalf of Sperry by the end of the year.

Source: Orange County Register