E-mails get Tampa workers in trouble
City employees get disciplinary letters after a review shows that they sent raunchy e-mails.
By BILL VARIAN
Published April 19, 2005
TAMPA - Forty-four city workers received disciplinary letters after an investigation of their work habits showed that they had sent out e-mails containing nude photos or sexually suggestive images.
One e-mail, for example, showed Hillary Clinton's head transposed on another person's nude body. Another, with the caption "A great day for fishing," showed two men fishing and at the same time engaging in an apparent sex act.
Most of the workers who received the disciplinary letters were rank-and-file city employees; roughly two-thirds of them were female employees.
None of them were suspended. The disciplinary letters from city human resources director Sarah Lang, distributed Friday, say that a notation will go into the employees' personnel records and that if they are caught again, it could lead to harsher penalties.
Additionally, Lang sent letters to all city employees reminding them that it's against the rules to send any personal e-mails from city computers. The city's review showed that other employees had sent messages that didn't involve nudity or sexual references, but still were not city business.
"They were puppies and kittens and "Have a nice day,"' Lang said. "None of that is acceptable."
However, Friday's disciplinary letters focused on those who had sent sexually explicit e-mails.
The review was prompted after the firing last year of four city parking division employees for sending e-mails with discriminatory references to sex, race and ethnicity, including sexually explicit jokes and photographs.
Those employees later attempted to appeal their firings.
During the appeal, one of the men provided various lists of employees to the city's Civil Service Board, documenting e-mail use that violated the city's business-only policy.
Human resources officials used the lists to conduct the investigation, which included reviewing thousands of e-mails and other documents sent from January 2003 through March 2004.
The investigation concluded that 44 people had violated the policy by sending raunchy or suggestive e-mails, but that their e-mails were not directed at co-workers or subordinates, as was the case with the four parking division workers.
"Their e-mails were specifically directed at specific employees in a pattern of e-mails that lended themselves to sexual harassment," Lang said, referring to the parking division employees.
Among the employees listed as having received disciplinary letters Friday is Fire Department Capt. Sam Chiodo.
That department has been rocked in recent months over revelations that strippers held a photo shoot at a fire station, leading to the firing of a captain and suspensions for four other firefighters.
A WTSP-Ch. 10 investigation also showed that new Fire Chief Dennis Jones has in the past sent personal e-mails from work, including two that were sexual in nature. He was not disciplined.
An attempt to reach Chiodo at home late Monday was not successful.
The city review also lists eight police officers who sent inappropriate e-mails. Their names were shielded because the matter has been forwarded to the Police Department's internal affairs unit.
When city workers sign on to their computers, they are now greeted by a box on their computer screen forcing them to acknowledge the city rule banning the personal use of e-mail. The city is also working to create a system for auditing employees' e-mail annually to search for violations of the policy.
A letter sent to all city employees Friday warns them that they could be disciplined for e-mails sent in the past if those are brought to light. The same applies to those employees who received disciplinary letters.