State government harassment cases on pace to almost double
The state explains the sharp increase by pointing to a heightened awareness of sexual harassment following mandatory training for government employees at the end of last year.
When Gov. Phil Bredesen said earlier this year that sexual harassment in state government was a problem, no one knew exactly how big the problem was, so The Associated Press reviewed 602 workplace harassment files going back to late 2002.
Among the findings: sexual harassment continues to be a big issue, and is by far the most common type of workplace harassment complaint by state workers.
In 2004, there were 167 workplace harassment complaints. In only the first 6 1/2 months of this year, the number had already reached 152 ? on a pace to reach 280 by the end of the year.
The reason for the spike is unclear, especially after cases of harassment remained relatively steady from 2003 to 2004.
“I don’t think the number of sexual harassment occasions has changed particularly; what I think you are getting is more reporting,” Bredesen told the AP in a recent interview about the findings.
Some officials point to the governor’s focus on the issue in 2004, which included mandatory training for state workers. The move may have raised awareness about what constituted harassment and prompted more complaints.
More than 600 agency heads and managers were trained late last year. Thousands of rank-and-file employees were also given training on expanded guidelines for workplace harassment, said Nat E. Johnson, deputy commissioner of personnel, the agency that is usually the last stop for harassment complaints from the state’s 38,000 employees.
“What we are trying to do is create an environment where people feel comfortable to disclose those issues,” he said.
The problem could be caused by shoddy record keeping in some agencies where harassment complaints are not formally collected. Some older complaints, such as those from 2003 and 2004, may not have been collected as part of the records request.
While it was not possible to tell from the records what the resolution was in 169 files out of 602 investigations reviewed by The Associated Press, the review showed harassment is a problem.
In some cases, careers are ended as longtime employees are fired or forced to resign. Occasionally they end in costly legal battles, or, in rare cases, with the state paying a small cash settlement to former employees.
Sometimes the offenses can be as minor as someone telling a racy joke. In other cases, employees complained about being asked for sex by a supervisor or someone inappropriately touching them.
Some can be bizarre, such as a couple of cases in the Department of Mental Health where female attendants were found to be involved sexually with mentally ill patients at the agency’s facilities.
Sometimes the cases appear to have been bungled.
In one, a young woman approached a department head with a complaint that an older and much higher-ranking man kept asking her to sleep with him. The department head simply made an informal note and did nothing else after the woman said she didn’t want a protracted case.
The records show nothing was done to make sure it did not happen again.
State governments are universally poor in dealing with sexual harassment, say experts.
And states do not collect information on how often harassment takes place or how many cases they have, said Ellen Bravo, the author of The 9to5 Guide to Combating Sexual Harassment, who teaches at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
“Once you know, you have to take action,” said Bravo.
Even if the person complaining doesn’t want to press the issue, “You certainly issue a warning and say ‘I can’t prove you are doing it, but if I find out you are you are in trouble,'” Bravo said.
She said it’s reasonable to assume that the increase in complaints in 2005 is due to the sexual harassment training ordered by Bredesen late last year.
The cases goes far beyond sexual harassment, which made up almost 39 percent of the 602 cases reviewed by the AP.
They include cases of discrimination by age or race or claims of a hostile work environment, among others.
General workplace harassment was the next biggest category behind sexual harassment, making up almost 30 percent of the complaints. They include everything from complaints of unruly co-workers to mean, rude or unfair supervisors.
“Most people who get harassed don’t report it at all,” Bravo said. “This, I’m sure, is just the tip of the iceberg. Sexual harassment is like any kind of dirt ? it doesn’t go away by itself. And few government units have really done anything about it.”