“The news cycle is something that's ubiquitous, it's on all the time, and anything that happens spreads on social media in the blink of an eye,” Michael Barrio, a public affairs and communications specialist for Leverage Point in Albuquerque, N.M., said.

It's necessary today to have a plan in place because it's no longer a question of if — but when — something like this can happen to any organization, he warned.

On May 5, Jamela Mohamed recorded a discrimination incident at Sound CU's Kent branch. Soon after the Seattle woman posted the video on her Facebook site on the evening of May 5, it drew many comments from mostly outraged Facebook users; some were Sound CU members. Many of them demanded that the employee involved be fired immediately because of the way she angrily confronted Mohamed, threatened to call police and followed her out to the credit union's parking lot.

Mohamed, a black Muslim woman, said she was discriminated against because she was asked to remove her headpiece, a hijab. But her video showed that at least two men in the branch were wearing baseball caps. It's unknown whether they removed their hats when they were served by tellers or were asked by tellers to comply with the credit union's policy of not wearing hoods, hats or sunglasses for “safety reasons.”

Sound CU did not respond to CU Times' request for comment about whether these two men seen in the video took off their caps or were asked to take off their caps by an employee. Mohamed and her lawyer also did not respond to CU Times' requests for comment.

On Saturday, May 6, Sound CU stated on its Facebook site that it was looking into the situation. The besieged credit union also stated that as a “member-owned credit union it absolutely believes in treating everyone equally.”

Crisis communicators observed that Sound CU's first statement in response to the swelling crisis was prompt and appropriate. Another positive move by the credit union was that it asserted its belief in the value of treating everyone equally.

But experts also said Sound CU's second statement posted on Monday, May 8, fell short.

“We looked into the situation and agree that we did not handle the situation well. We want to express our deepest apology to the member,” the credit union stated. “As a result, we are looking at our procedures and training and will make changes to make sure that a situation like this never happens again. It is clear our training needs to include more empathy and sensitivity to all cultures, because as a credit union we believe in equal treatment of all people.”

“There was no language that the video was troubling or disturbing,” said Joshua Silberberg, director of strategic communications and media at 30 Point Strategies in Washington. “There was no human touch. It was cold.”

A crisis statement could be made more human and have much more impact when it comes from one of the organization's top leaders such as the board chair or the CEO, he said.

“People are looking for an emotional connection and they felt emotional about this [discrimination] incident,” Silberberg explained. “If you're coming off corporate, then you're not hearing the problem. You've got to be human in how you're going to talk about something as serious as a threat to your corporate reputation.”

Casey Boggs, president of LT Public Relations in Portland, Ore., agreed.

“The credit union's initial statements came across as too legal and tone-deaf to the matter at hand,” he said. “We would advise to be more real or 'human' with their statements. Their response should be attributed to an actual employee or a Sound CU executive, rather than a broad statement from a nebulous organization. The credit union needs to connect with the affected member immediately to listen and have a conversation.”

However, Sally Falkow, a digital public relations and media strategist in Tampa, Fla., thought the credit union responded promptly and its May 8 statement was adequate.

“But I do think they could and should have emphasized that the supervisor was acting in violation of bank policy,” she said. “They should have made it clear whether she had been fired.”

And that's why the angry comments from thousands kept coming after Sound CU's May 8 statement. Many people kept demanding that the employee, identified as a supervisor, involved be fired because of the way the employee treated Mohamed.

In Mohamed's Facebook video a Sound CU employee said, “If you don't take your hood off, I'm calling 9-1-1.”

“Can I go ahead and get my money back?” Mohamed asked.

The supervisor ignored her question and stated, again, with a raised voice, “1, 2, and 3.” The supervisor then slapped her hand on the teller counter and walked back to a desk to apparently call the police.

What's more, the video shows Mohamed crying inside her car, claiming the employee followed her out to the parking lot. The video briefly shows the employee near Mohamed's car.

On Tuesday, May 9, Sound CU issued a third statement that it was reviewing the video and conducting an investigation, but it wasn't until Monday, May 15 when Sound CU released a bullet point statement about its investigation and the next steps it was planning to take.

“The employee involved is no longer with the credit union,” Sound CU's statement read in part.

While the credit union let the employee go and outlined a path forward, Silberberg said this response was too slow, which allowed the issue to fester on social media, which kept eroding the credit union's brand day after day.

“Anytime you Google the company, it's going to be up there in the page one result for a while,” he said.

Nonetheless, the May 15 statement seemed to quiet down the crisis and numerous people praised the credit union's actions.

“Thank you for taking ownership of the situation and being proactive in your response,” wrote Lauren Edlund. “As a long-time (30+ years) member of this credit union, I was embarrassed by the action of the supervisor. I'm happy to see she is no longer employed by Sound.”

Several others wrote on Facebook that Sound CU responded quickly and appropriately, while one person didn't think the response was timely.

“Abt time….” Dae Hunte wrote, with an emoji-looking askance.

In its May 15 statement, Sound CU said it was working to become better by enhancing its training and improving procedures and signage to be more clear and understandable. The credit union also said that it met with community leaders and would continue to reach out to the community and committed to making sure “everyone feels welcome.”

Barrio added it is paramount that credit unions develop and update annually a crisis communications plan.

Part of the crisis communications plan must identify who should be on the crisis response team and it typically involves key executives, including someone involved in daily operations, a board member, a lawyer and public relations person, Barrio said. The plan also should establish protocols on whom to contact and when, how to respond to different situations and scenarios, and how to roll out communications internally as well as externally.

“When you're in a corner and you're not prepared, you're probably going to say things you shouldn't be saying that would not be helpful to your brand and your reputation,” Barrio said. “If we take [reputational risk] seriously, then that means we should at least plan for these things.”