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Seminole denies any harassment

A city worker resigns, asks to rescind her resignation, then files her accusations.

By ANNE LINDBERG
Published August 16, 2006

SEMINOLE - A former administrative assistant has accused City Manager Frank Edmunds and other supervisors of making sexual comments and discriminating against her and other female employees.

Evelyn Dale Pagano also charged that Edmunds called Mayor Dottie Reeder, council members and city attorney John Elias "a joke and stupid," which colored workers' perceptions of them, according to a complaint filed July 28 with the Florida Commission on Human Relations and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

The sexual harassment and discrimination were widespread and well-known, but nothing was ever done about it, Pagano alleged in her complaint.

Pagano, 52, filed the complaint two days after she left the city's employ. She had worked for Seminole since January and earned $13.64 an hour.

Pagano, who is now in Alabama, declined to comment, saying her attorney had advised her against it.

Her attorney, Kerri Riley of Huntsville, Ala., did not return a phone message asking for comment.

Edmunds denied all the charges. He issued a written statement:

"I'm shocked and disappointed that Ms. Pagano has filed a discrimination complaint against the city of Seminole alleging misconduct by several members of the city's administrative team, including the city manager.

"Ms. Pagano was an administrative assistant in the former general services department and I had very little direct contact with her during her brief six-month employment with the city. ... I am confident that once the truth and the facts are established regarding the complaint, this complaint will not be supported."

The complaint was turned over to the city's labor attorney, Tom Gonzalez of the Tampa law firm of Thompson, Sizemore and Gonzalez.

Pagano's complaint came as a surprise, Edmunds said, pointing out that she had asked to rescind her resignation and did not mention the alleged harassment and discrimination until filling out her exit interview two days before she filed her complaint.

Pagano announced her resignation in a July 11 letter to her immediate supervisor, Mitch Bobowski.

"It has been a pleasure working with you over the past six months," Pagano wrote in that letter. "Due to current circumstances, I have accepted employment elsewhere."

But 10 days later, she e-mailed Edmunds asking to keep her job and had discovered that she needed Edmunds' permission to do so. Edmunds had told her he was leaving town and had no chance to meet with her. He referred her to the city's personnel department.

"I did see Pat regarding rescinding my resignation and staying with the city," Pagano wrote in the July 21 e-mail.

"She advised me that only you would need to make the decision as to whether or not I could stay in my position and recommended that I talk with you about it. I see that you have made your decision."

Edmunds called the e-mail, which the city provided a copy of, "very important" to the case.

Five or six days after that, Pagano made her first accusations of sexual harassment and discrimination in an exit questionnaire.

Pagano also alleged inappropriate touching, but she did not provide details of that or of the sexual comments that she said were made.

On the exit questionnaire, she said she was leaving because of a "hostile sexual environment, low employee morale due to discrimination and inequitable treatment of employees."

But she gave the city ratings of "excellent" in 23 areas, including saying that her supervisor "demonstrates fair and equal treatment" and "resolves complaints and grievances." She ranked her salary and job training as "good."

She assigned "poor" ratings to "opportunity for advancement" and "performance evaluations."

Elsewhere in the questionnaire Pagano said she had wanted a government job to get the benefits and job security.

But she complained that there was no job security and of "continuous sexual harassment of female employees by city manager and others."

She further alleged that Edmunds "creates (a) volatile environment by inconsistent and unfair treatment of employees."

She charged that Edmunds makes "derogatory comments" about Reeder, other council members and city attorney Elias.

Those comments, Pagano wrote, "leave the employees with the impression that our elected officials are, at best, 'a joke and stupid.' "

Pagano suggested that the council "hire a city manager who would not only be an asset to the city but would also foster and inspire employee morale instead of leading by dictatorship and instilling fear of one day losing their jobs." 

WHAT'S NEXT:

Seminole has until Aug. 17 to submit a "statement of position" on the claim. That response will be put in the file while the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission investigates the allegations.

[Last modified August 15, 2006, 21:35:48]