Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality Secretary Aurelia Giacometto (right) and Gov. Jeff Landry hold a press conference on July 1, 2024, at the Denka neoprene plant in LaPlace, La., to speak against a new EPA rule they say is unfair to the company. (Photo credit: Wes Muller/Louisiana Illuminator)
More than three quarters of state employees polled at the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality said morale at the agency worsened last year, and nearly half had negative views about LDEQ leadership, according to the results of a workplace culture survey the Louisiana Legislative Auditor published Monday.
Louisiana Legislative Auditor Mike Waguespack surveyed 712 LDEQ employees last July and received responses from 377, or nearly 53%. Waguespack’s office initiated the review at the request of state lawmakers. Their directive followed reports of resignations and turmoil at the agency, with some employees complaining of harassment from LDEQ Secretary Aurelia Giacometto.
The survey questions covered the period from January through June 2024, gauging LDEQ’s workplace culture during Giacometto’s first six months at the helm.
An overwhelming 78.2% of the respondents reported that morale at LDEQ worsened over that six-month period. More than one-third said they work in a “toxic environment,” and a roughly equal number have personally experienced or witnessed retaliation. Just over half, or 55.7%, reported being satisfied with their job, and less than one-fourth, or 22.3%, agreed or strongly agreed that LDEQ executive leadership treats them with respect and appreciation, according to the report.
Nearly 14% of the sampled employees reported feeling pressured to do something against the law, in violation of department policy or in violation of state Civil Service rules.
Their concerns included being pressured to disregard regulations or policies related to site closures, completing inspections, grant requirements and agency contracts. Some employees also mentioned issues with a temporary directive from Giacometto to not communicate with outside agencies.
When Waguespack’s office shared the survey results with Giacometto, she responded with a letter criticizing the auditor’s procedures and dismissing the findings outright.
“You have admittedly (and inexplicably) chosen not to abide by Governmental Auditing Standards in issuing the report, and the report contains a lot of data, some of which is not particularly useful or relevant to the operations of LDEQ,” she wrote in the letter, which is included in the report.
Giacometto was referring to a sentence in Waguespack’s report that states it is an informational report intended to provide more timely information than standards-based performance audits: “While these informational reports do not follow Government Auditing Standards, we conduct quality assurance activities to ensure the information presented is accurate.”
Jenifer Schaye, general counsel for the Legislative Auditor’s Office, explained in a phone call Monday that government auditing standards do not apply to these kinds of workplace culture surveys. Nevertheless, the auditors went to great lengths to choose the most objective and unbiased questions, Schaye said.
An appendix to the report notes that the auditors met with LDEQ ahead of time to discuss the project and obtain feedback from Giacometto. When they provided draft survey questions and asked for feedback, LDEQ responded that it had none, according to the appendix.
Alongside the digital survey, the auditors personally interviewed a subset of staff from all LDEQ sections and of various job titles and hire dates, ranging from newer employees to those with more experience. Additionally, an independent auditor with specialized training conducted a non-response bias analysis to ensure the respondent sample was representative of LDEQ’s staff population, the report notes.
Giacometto noted in her response letter that “the business community” has rated LDEQ under her leadership “as good as, and in some cases better” than her predecessor — Chuck Carr Brown, under former Gov. John Bel Edwards.
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There are no actual ratings or survey results from the business community. What Giacometto calls “the business community” was actually five industry stakeholders whom the auditors spoke with to gain their feedback on recent changes at the agency. Her implication that they rated her tutelage of LDEQ comes from a sentence on page 3 of the report that reads, “Industry stakeholders we interviewed stated that LDEQ performance from their perspective was either as good as, or in some cases better, over the past six months (January through June 2024).”
LDEQ did not answer specific questions about the report when asked for comment Monday, instead providing the letter Giacometto sent to Waguespack.
Among the other survey findings, roughly 47% of the sampled employees indicated that they either disagree or strongly disagree that LDEQ executive leadership models qualities of accountability, professionalism, integrity, respect, empathy and leadership, with a larger share choosing the “strongly disagree” option. Nearly one-third were neutral, saying they neither agree nor disagree.
The sampled employees had far more positive feelings about their immediate supervisors than they did about LDEQ’s executive leadership. More than 75% said they either agree or strongly agree that their managers, supervisors and administrators model those same leadership qualities. Similarly, 76.3% of respondents said their supervisors treat them with respect and appreciation, while only 22.3% said the same about LDEQ’s executive leadership.
More than 40% reported having personally seen unprofessional behavior such as yelling, demeaning comments, harassment or intimidation — either sometimes, often or always during the first half of 2024. Another 33.7% reported having personally experienced or witnessed retaliation at LDEQ, and almost 59% of the staff reported they rarely or never personally experienced or witnessed unprofessional behavior.
In concluding her letter to Waguespack, Giacometto indicated she was unswayed by the survey’s findings.
“I, as Secretary, am very proud of the hard working employees of the LDEQ and their dedication to the mission,” she wrote. “And I am not going to allow some disgruntled employees to undermine the great work of this agency.”
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