A Sacramento city worker has been sexually harassing a nurse for 5 years. He got a warning
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The city of Sacramento issued a written reprimand to an employee who’s been sexually harassing a nurse for five years, but did not suspend or terminate him.
City park maintenance worker Michael Spenser Santos in January 2023 experienced a work-related injury and went to the occupational medicine clinic at Dignity Health Mercy Medical Group on Q Street, according to a disciplinary letter the city issued Santos in January. At the front desk he asked staff twice for an email address for a specific registered nurse.
The nurse, whose name is redacted in the disciplinary letter, said she did not feel comfortable assisting Santos due to his actions during prior appointments, in which he repeatedly asked her out on dates, made comments about her appearance, stared at her, and lingered after appointments.
After staff assigned someone else to see Santos, he asked for the exam room door be left open so he could see who walked by the room, the letter stated.
The next day, Santos called the clinic asking to be seen again. The clinic staff said they did not have authorization to see him again because his injury had been cleared. He called a city workers compensation claims representative asking for authorization for another doctor appointment, which was approved.
The same day Santos called the clinic again. Instead of taking the first appointment time available, he asked to be seen at the Q Street location and asked repeatedly to be seen by the same specific nurse, the letter stated.
Following that call, the clinic filed a complaint about Santos with the city workers compensation claims representative. The complaint referred to Santos as “disrespectful and harassing.”
In the past, Santos had asked the nurse out on a date, and she declined, the letter stated. On another visit, he asked her out again and the employee told him he was married and had no interest in a romantic relationship.
In November, a Labor Relations Administrative and EEO investigator interviewed the nurse. She stated Santos had been giving her “a lot of unwanted attention” at the clinic dating back to 2018.
During a December 2023 interview with Labor Relations Administrative and EEO investigator, Santos admitted to calling the clinic asking for the nurse, but denied asking her on a date.
“(Santos) said she was lying, that she was being forward and flirtation with (him), that she laughed at everything (he) said,” the letter stated. “(Santos) stated (she) was probably upset that (he) never took her up on any of her advances.”
Asked what Santos considered flirtation, he stated, “We’ll just say she’s being super friendly. She’s being super friendly, super cordial super nice. She could have been just doing her job.”
Asked if he stared at the woman, Santos said, “If anything, I’m the victim here because Mercy Medical is a Catholic organization, and I’m Pentecost, just so you know, I’m just throwing it you there. Apostolic Pentecostal, just so you know ... I’m offended because they took it as like some ‘law and order SVU,’ you know, scandal here.”
During an interview with The Sacramento Bee Tuesday, Santos again denied asking out the nurse or asking to be seen by her specifically. He said he and his wife invited the whole clinic staff to an event at their church.
Santos said that he perceived the nurse’s behavior as flirtatious and stated that her complaint was motivated by him not responding to her advances. Asked if the woman ever asked Santos out, he said “no.”
Santos is in the process of appealing the discipline, he said.
Santos’ actions violated the city’s Rule and Regulations of the Civil Service Board’s rule regarding discourteous treatment of any member of the public, willful disobedience, and discrediting the city, the letter stated. It was signed by Park Maintenance Manager Shawn Aylesworth and approved by human resources.
The letter is placed in Santos’ personnel file, but will be removed in January 2026 if there is no additional discipline issued, the letter stated. Further actions by Santos could cause further discipline up to and including termination, the letter stated.
Government affairs consultant and anti-sexual harassment advocate Samantha Corbin questioned whether the city should have taken stricter action.
“Ultimately, corrective actions should do just that — correct and change a behavior,” Corbin said. “Given the frequency and volume of the harassment that was documented, I question whether a letter on file for two years will do much to change this man’s behavior. Certainly, if I was the nurse in this incident, I wouldn’t feel more secure or safe with this resolution because it seems unlikely to alter the behavior.”
City spokesman Tim Swanson said the city does not comment on individual personnel matters.
Santos is covered by Local 39, the city’s largest union.
“The city’s employee discipline processes are negotiated within our union labor contracts,” Councilwoman Caity Maple said in an email. “I do not comment on any ongoing personnel matters for this reason.”
Santos has been a city employee since February 2013, according to an employee roster The Sacramento Bee obtained from a California Public Records Act request.
