Robert Half International and Sandia Laboratory Federal Credit Union

My heart sank today when I read the New Mexico Activities Association (NMAA) final decision that Jaiya’s 2024-2025 participation eligibility had been approved, albeit with clear stipulations:

What this means is that should we become displaced as a result of my unexpected unemployment, Jaiya will no longer be eligible to compete in our current district, and could possibly be declared ineligible from participating for 365 days, should the NMAA believe we intentionally falsified residency information provided to Eldorado High School when registering Jaiya in August.

I was fired from SLFCU on the day Jaiya and I moved into our home, Friday, August 2, 2024. The Robert Half recruiter who hired me called as we celebrated making the last carload to our new home.

My SLFCU supervisor knew this. For 2 weeks, I continued to share my excitement about finally being settled in Albuquerque following our summer relocation and I had messaged her several times about my availability while moving.

Both she and the VP she reported to were familiar with the challenges I encountered getting Jaiya registered in the district and joked the scrutiny surrounding where we live was the result of Jai being such a high-performing athlete that all APS athletic programs were vying for her.

Now here is where my rational brain attempts to make sense of how racial bias, ingrained prejudice, privilege, and abuse of power intersect to negatively impact the lives of Black people in an instant; and it requires nothing of those impacted other than to be without privilege or power.

I will never [rationally] understand why none of the Executive Leaders from Robert Half or SLFCU questioned my being fired without warning. No one found it unacceptable I received no warning that my contract would be canceled. No one deemed it necessary to actually understand and be capable of articulating [let alone documenting] the reasons provided to Robert Half when they met with SLFCU representatives on Monday (8/5). No one believed it to be a critical factor that no ‘Scope of Work’ or role sort had ever been provided to me, although I’d requested both MANY times. Did anyone address the specific concerns I shared with my Robert Half recruiter on Monday 7/29 and documented in detail to him on Thursday 8/1; the day before my firing?

If my SLFCU supervisor was dissatisfied with my “performance”, could I not have been afforded the professional courtesy of a warning or a conversation, given my relocation to Albuquerque was contingent on my role at SLFCU. Before, in good faith, I executed a 12-month lease for a home 1 block from SLFCU offices, could someone have alerted me of the plan to void my contract. A rental agreement that is only 1 month old tomorrow and likely vacated soon, can easily be perceived by the NMAA as a ruse to get my daughter registered in the school of her choosing.

It is the unpredictable ease, without thought, concern, or consequence that crisis and trauma get injected into our daily lives as Black people that angers me the most. The flagrant abuse of power without accountability. The privilege of naturally being afforded the “benefit of the doubt”. SLFCU relied on deeply rooted Confirmation Bias, to turn our lives upside down.

The reporting SLFCU supervisors were not required to justify or validate their actions; they only shared what ‘deep down’ my Robert Half employers believed could be true. My 25+ years of established Technology industry experience was a non-factor. However, Prove It Again Bias was definitely at play.

In a room of Executive Leaders, who among you questioned the assertion I would be afforded the luxury of “underperforming” or being “underqualified” in a workspace where I was the ONLY person who looked like me and the sole contractor?

EVERYTHING my daughter has worked for is in jeopardy because the SLFCU leader responsible for managing her mom, could not resolve her own prejudice to allow for my SLFCU experience to be anything other than diminishing and humiliating and no one with authority to do so, required this accountability of her.

I was the outlier at SLFCU, and I was treated that way until the day I was fired.

My daughter’s future is not in the hands of people incapable of seeing her or her dreams.

Do any of you understand how hard Jaiya has worked? Do you recognize the ‘domino effect’ of your actions on HER life and how incredibly cruel this is?

How are the human-centered, ethical standards you have painted everywhere on the walls of SLFCU (Be Gritty, Do The Right Thing, Be Better Every Day) and featured in Robert Half DEI highlights, being applied to me and Jaiya today?

Robert Half – is this what “Leading With Integrity and Making Meaningful Impact” looks like?

Sandia Laboratory Federal Credit Union – what is your current Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion policy, and does it meet the DEI criteria established by NCUA for all credit union members?

My amazing daughter is counting on me.

I will not allow Jaiya’s future aspirations to be compromised because Robert Half and SLFCU Leaders failed to protect me in the work environment they placed me in and opted to fire me rather than correct the inequality that is your work culture accepted norm.

My future Olympian will not be sidetracked by the complete disregard for our family’s future by Robert Half and SLFCU.

Here’s your chance.

BE BETTER, EVERY DAY

• We seek to improve ourselves and those around us.
• We run towards problems.
• We never settle.

Racism SUCKS. And yes, Black Lives Do Matter.

Luckie and Jaiya Devi Daniels