Health Department Disclosed My Identity After I Requested Anonymity When Filing A Complaint(houston, Tx).

Location: Houston, TX

I am an electrician for a company that does a lot of work for a large movie theater company. Last week, I was working in a theater that was replacing all of the cabinets in the concession area. I have gone to this theater many times over the last 10 years, and it has always had a serious roach and rat infestation. The roaches are inside the Coke machines, popcorn machines, cups..... everywhere. After the old cabinets were torn out and the new ones were installed, the roaches were already coming back.

The general contractor and the GM of the theater were very aware of the situation, but nothing was being done about it. Because of this, I emailed someone from the health department for the city the theater is in. I explained the situation and provided pictures. I emailed the health department from my personal email and specifically asked to be kept anonymous so that it would not come back on my company.

The person at the health department contacted the movie theater company and told them about the email and, for some reason, shared my name. The theater company called my boss and told him that I am not allowed to work on any of their projects anymore. They are the only client my company has, so essentially I can no longer work there.

I would like to make it clear that my employer has not fired me and has done nothing wrong. My concern is with the actions of the health department. There was no legitimate reason for my name to be shared, especially after I specifically requested anonymity. Sharing my identity served no purpose related to addressing the complaint and only created the opportunity for retaliation against me. There was simply no valid reason for my name to be disclosed under these circumstances.