Former employee alleges discrimination at Hillside Children’s Center

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A former Hillside Children’s Center employee alleges that he was discriminated against for his sexual orientation and denied accommodations for his disability while working at the location on Mustard Street last year.

While working at Hillside from January to April 2023 as a youth care professional, Andrew Salvetti alleges that the use of homophobic slurs was tolerated in the workplace and that his requests for disability accommodations were twice shot down—once for short breaks to accommodate his obsessive-compulsive disorder and again for a shift change to accommodate his bipolar disorder, according to a federal court complaint.

He further claims he was harassed for being openly gay and that he was treated adversely and questioned about his ability to carry out his job after disclosing his bipolar and OCD diagnoses to his employer.

“Through my employment, I was victim to a hostile work environment and harassed for being open about my sexual orientation and informing (Hillside Family of Agencies) of my disability,” Salvetti alleges in the complaint. “Comments made to me regarding my sexual orientation included Keep it vanilla and Keep it appropriate after I mentioned my partner.”

He also asserts that he was fired on April 13, 2023, in retaliation for informing his employer that he had contacted the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission after the alleged mistreatment.

Hillside Family of Agencies is a nonprofit founded in 1837 that provides child welfare, mental and physical health, youth development, juvenile justice, special education, and developmental disabilities services. The organization operates dozens of locations across New York and Maryland tailored to different purposes. 

According to its website, the Mustard Street location, where Salvetti worked, offers community-based services, family-finding services to identify next-of-kin support for children, and work-scholarship connection program services like tutoring, job-readiness help, and youth development check-ins.

Salvetti filed charges with the EEOC on July 13, 2023. The agency’s Buffalo office issued a “no reasonable cause” determination on July 12 of this year. It is a no-finding determination, meaning that the EEOC’s investigators weren’t able to conclude that there was reasonable cause to believe that discrimination occurred, but also that Salvetti’s charges are not necessarily without merit and that Hillside did not necessarily act legally.

The decision granted Salvetti the right to pursue the charges in court. He alleges that Hillside violated Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Hillside did not respond to a request for comment on the case.

Justin O’Connor is a Rochester Beacon contributing writer. The Beacon welcomes comments and letters from readers who adhere to our comment policy including use of their full, real name. Submissions to the Letters page should be sent to [email protected]

3 thoughts on “Former employee alleges discrimination at Hillside Children’s Center

  1. It never seizes to amaze me. I don’t walk around with a megaphone and yell, “I’m straight, I’m straight!!” Nor do I demonstrate that on a float in a parade. I simply live my private life…privately. And if those with a different lifestyle, different opinion, etc etc. would just have the courtesy to do the same, it would be a better world. The temptation to stick one’s finger in someone else’s eye is simply to great for some. I know it’s way to simple, but live and let live is a pretty neat and quiet concept. Now enter the lawyer who will make things “all better”. The first question asked by the lawyer is like the question at the reception window at your doctors office, can I see your insurance card please and your co-pay is…..The attorney just wants to know, up front, how deep your pocket is lined with m.o.n.e.y!!

    • As in, if you draw attention to yourself don’t be upset when people pay attention to you?

      It’s just hard to imagine a social services organization such as Hillside would discriminate against its employees.

  2. Of Course we know Hillside has likely been advised by legal counsel not to comment. That aside, the questions are were the accommodations requested reasonable and the comments inappropriate. Asking anyone discussing their personal relationships at work to keep it appropriate and “vanilla”, especially in the presence of children sounds reasonable, if not appropriate in themselves.

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