SAN ANTONIO – A former bilingual communications specialist with CPS Energy fired last year for failing to cooperate with an investigation into his behavior at work said he was simply following instructions from the utility’s human resources department.
Ruben Betancourt, who worked for CPS from January 2022 until he was fired on July 7, 2022, declined to provide the company’s security team with a list of his prescribed medications after an incident at its headquarters in late April 2022.
Betancourt, who according to records had recently undergone an emergency appendectomy, said he showed up at work for the utility’s monthly board meeting and misplaced his security badge after entering the building.
“Still feeling a little off, a little bad,” said Betancourt, who was prescribed pain medication after the surgery and also takes medication for a diagnosed mental health illness.
Betancourt said after misplacing his badge, which was later found, CPS Energy security operations staff began to question his behavior.
“It was an odd situation because it seemed like there was suspicion put onto me for losing my badge when all I was trying to do was find it,” said Betancourt.
Betancourt summoned to HQ for investigation
Betancourt said he was summoned to CPS Energy headquarters the following day and questioned by security.
He said the questions consisted of asking what medications he was taking, the interactions between these medications as well as questions about his mental health.
“I felt very uncomfortable and I just felt unqualified to answer. I felt like they were building this narrative. Just trying to insinuate that I was just inebriated, basically,” said Betancourt.
CPS officials contend they uncovered security video footage showing Betancourt on the day of the board meeting attempting to drive into the company’s parking garage through the exit gate, records obtained by KSAT Investigates show.
Betancourt said security staff instructed him to turn over a list of medications prescribed to him but failed to provide a point of contact with whom to turn in that information.
Betancourt told KSAT he then contacted CPS Energy’s human resources department.
“No, you don’t have to send it over to security. You’re going to work with me going forward. Work with me. Don’t provide them any information, especially since they’re asking for medical documentation. Everything on the medical side, you know, with our HIPAA laws,” the HR employee told Betancourt in the recorded phone call.
Betancourt also recorded phone conversations with security in which a staff member followed up on the request for the list of meds.
“Okay, so just to be clear, you know, gave you ‘til... giving you ‘til 5 o’clock today to provide that information, so are you just refusing to provide it or declining?” the security staff member said in the May 2022 recording.
Betancourt told KSAT he was comfortable providing the requested information to HR but not directly to the company’s security team.
Betancourt said he eventually sent the list of meds to HR and the company’s manager of occupational health.
He also filed a formal complaint against the security team, which was closed in June 2022 without any HIPAA or other policy violations being found, CPS Energy records show.
Betancourt was placed on administrative leave in early May 2022 but was permitted to return to work after completing fitness-for-duty paperwork that same month, records show.
“I basically felt alone in this corporation.”
Betancourt said he returned to a “cold, hostile” work environment and perceived several indications that the company was going to eventually terminate him.
“I basically felt alone in this corporation. I just felt like I was belittled. I was targeted. Nobody was there to vouch for me,” said Betancourt.
A week before he was formally terminated, Betancourt said his supervisor sat him down and gave him a long list of work duties she said he was handling incorrectly.
Betancourt told KSAT he had received no previous work reviews or feedback on how he was doing.
July 7, 2022, less than two weeks before Betancourt would have completed his probationary work period, he was terminated.
He was fired for not being forthcoming, truthful or accurate in his report to CPS Energy security, which caused an “escalated security concern” at work, his termination paperwork states.
Betancourt was also terminated for failing to safely perform his work duties, failing to safeguard his security badge and for failing to show cooperation during security’s investigation of him, Betancourt’s termination letter states.
“It was very impactful and hurt every aspect in my life and in my family’s life,” said Betancourt, who added that he was terminated shortly before getting married.
He told KSAT he lost his medical insurance, filed for bankruptcy, lost his vehicle and experienced homelessness after his termination.
CPS Energy officials last month declined a request for an interview on Betancourt’s termination, calling it a personnel issue.
The utility has declined to hand over Betancourt’s personnel file, claiming in a letter last month to the Texas attorney general that the information is confidential, that the utility anticipates litigation in the case and that the requested records contain attorney work product.
What comes next?
Last October Betancourt filed a complaint with the Texas Workforce Commission Civil Rights Division and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) claiming CPS Energy had discriminated against him due to a disability and wrongfully terminated him.
In a response to the allegations in January, an attorney representing the utility said Betancourt’s claims were meritless and that at no point did he advise “anyone at CPS Energy that he had any ongoing medical condition or disability of any kind, nor did he request any type of accommodation,” the response states.
Betancourt had also misrepresented what human resources told him in regard to what information he needed to provide as part of the investigation into his behavior, the response states.
The response states that Betancourt exhibited unusual and erratic behavior at work during the April 2022 incident during what was described as a “high-profile day for the company.”
The EEOC in August closed its investigation without making a determination on whether the company violated Betancourt’s rights and issued him a right-to-sue letter, records show.
To date, Betancourt has not filed a lawsuit against CPS Energy and no legal determination has been made in connection to his claim that the company wrongfully terminated him.
Betancourt said half of the attorneys he’s reached out to have cited a conflict of interest as their reason for not taking on a case against the utility.