| NEWS | Job from p 15 “It’s profits over people,” Conrad said. A company spokesperson did not confirm any connection between the two events. “We aim to carry out this difficult deci- sion in a transparent and thoughtful manner while providing meaningful assistance, resources, and support to impacted team members,” Cardenas said. “We believe these decisions, while extremely difficult, will result in Carvana restoring a better balance between its sales volumes and staffing levels and facilitate the company returning to efficient growth on its mission to change the way people buy and sell cars.” Affected workers, believing their employer was overzealous in recruiting a small army of new personnel last year, claim the company is simply trying to cover for its mistake. Brown was brought on board six months ago as part of a large hiring initia- tive that saw more than 100 new employees start work every week. Hiring just halted in April. “They massively overhired,” Brown told New Times. “Calling it ‘bullshit’ in Slack is being met with threats of being sent home for the day and any threads about it are being instantly deleted.” Brown first leaked the company-wide email on the social discussion website Reddit. He plans to quit next week. “They said they were preparing for tax season and to be ready for mandatory overtime,” Brown said. “Come tax season, there was no overtime and we were being offered unlimited unpaid time off.” Conrad even worked reduced hours — just 35 hours per week — during what was supposedly the busiest time of the year early this spring. Carvana, which generated nearly $13 billion in gross revenues last year, according to filings in February with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, promised each affected employee four weeks of pay plus one week for every year of service with the company. Leadership promised that the “door will be open for rehire once we start growing again.” The online car seller said acquiring Adesa will give it “significant flexibility” to grow in the future. “Our team is bigger than we need and we can’t be certain growth will rebound quickly enough to bring us all back to balance,” Carvana co-founder Ernie Garcia wrote in his Tuesday morning email to the company, which was leaked to New Times. “I want to tell you I am sorry. I know that doesn’t go very far to change what this means for you and your family. Regardless, it is true and it needs to be said.” Spurned workers like Conrad are left hoping Carvana will be true to its word and consider rehiring ex-employees after anticipated internal growth. In the meantime, she’s checking the classifieds. “Now, I’m scrambling,” Conrad said. “I don’t know where to go or what to do.” The Jailor’s Torment Ex-Arizona prison boss indicted in tequila- fueled standoff with cops. BY ELIAS WEISS counts exactly four months after police responded to a drunken shooting at the one-time prison superintendent’s home, where a 3 1/2-hour standoff with cops took place. Ryan faces up to four years in prison. He A 16 could get slapped with three years for disorderly conduct involving firearms, and one year for unlawfully firing a weapon, according to sentencing guidelines in the Arizona criminal code. “As a 30-year prosecutor, I understand the importance of focusing on the facts and evidence of each individual case when making charging decisions,” interim Maricopa County grand jury indicted former Arizona Department of Corrections Director Charles Ryan on two felony Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell said in a statement. “A thorough review of this case was conducted by expe- rienced prosecutors in this office.” This twist comes after a career in the Arizona Department of Corrections that was mired in controversy. Ryan abruptly ended his decade-long tenure at the department after a scathing report said he brushed off constant secu- rity breaches involving busted prison cell locks, endangering inmates and correc- tional officers in 2019. A number of other scandals afflicted Arizona’s prison system while Ryan was in charge. Among them were an incarcerated man’s suicide caught on videotape, a botched execution, and a continued failure to improve a dysfunctional prison health care system, which cost the department more than $1 million in court fines >> p 19 MAY 19TH– MAY 25TH, 2022 PHOENIX NEW TIMES | MUSIC | CAFE | FILM | CULTURE | NIGHT+DAY | FEATURE | NEWS | OPINION | FEEDBACK | CONTENTS | phoenixnewtimes.com
