A "good old boy system" that spewed inappropriate comments and behaviors toward female coworkers existed in the Maintenance Division at Yellowstone National Park, according to an investigation, which said the atmosphere continued "because of the actions, or inaction, of supervisors."
While the investigation that was launched last September and involved more than 100 interviews failed to uncover the depth of sordidness a story in a local publication described and which spawned the investigation by the Interior Department's Office of Inspector General, it did find credible allegations that the division's supervisor and male employees "created a work environment that included unwelcome and inappropriate comments and actions toward women."
Yellowstone Superintendent Dan Wenk, who had started his own investigation into the allegations before suspending it when the OIG became involved, told the investigators that "there might be a grain of truth” to the allegations. Superintendent Wenk said Wednesday that the investigative findings would spur changes in the park.
"The National Park Service acknowledges the findings brought forth by the OIG and we appreciate the information that was gained through this comprehensive investigation. Serious problems were identified within Yellowstone’s Maintenance Division, which we take seriously and will be addressing," he said in an email. "Many of the original allegations were found by the OIG to be inaccurate or exaggerated. Appropriate, professional behavior is expected from all employees. Moving forward, the park will consider appropriate actions, which may include personnel actions, organizational realignment, or changes to park procedures and policy."
The article published in The Montana Pioneer last September described instances of a female worker being drunk on the job and retained only for sexual favors.
"According to the article, this woman did minimal work, drank daily, and was 'essentially . . . kept inebriated and available for favors from her superior,'" the OIG report released publicly on Wednesday mentioned. However, the woman, who had worked 20 seasons at Yellowstone, "denied the allegation and said that she was never kept 'drunk on the job' in order to have sex," the report noted. "She acknowledged that she and her supervisor had been in a relationship while she worked for him, but explained that the relationship was consensual."
Other workers told the investigators, however, that the woman did drink on the job. One said "that he had called her supervisor on several occasions to come get her because she was drunk and he was concerned for her safety. This subordinate said he spoke to both the seasonal employee’s supervisor and the Maintenance Division supervisor 'more than once' about her drinking problem," the OIG report stated. "Another subordinate told us that he told the Maintenance Division supervisor at least twice that the seasonal employee had been drinking on the job. He explained that she had smelled of alcohol and that he had seen her walking unevenly at work."
The issue of sexual harassment in the National Park System erupted in January 2016 when the OIG released a report that detailed a 15-year-old running chapter of a rowdy, sexually charged atmosphere for some Grand Canyon National Park employees, with male employees pawing and propositioning female workers, some of who at times exhibited their own risqué behavior. The investigation generated a tawdry list of inappropriate behavior, from male employees taking photographs up under a female co-worker's dress and groping female workers to women dancing provocatively and bringing a drinking straw "shaped like a penis and testicles" to river parties.
The incidents, a September 2014 letter to then-Interior Secretary Sally Jewell charged, "demonstrated evidence of 'discrimination, retaliation, and a sexually hostile work environment.'”
Since that story broke, Dave Uberuaga retired as superintendent of Grand Canyon, there were Congressional calls for former Park Service Director Jon Jarvis to be fired or resign, there was a bipartisan demand from Congress for the Park Service to develop a plan to combat sexual harassment, and there was a rise of sexual harassment allegations from Yellowstone, Canaveral National Seashore, Chattahooche River National Recreation Area, and De Soto National Memorial.
The Park Service this past January also responded by sending out an optional survey asking employees "to assess the prevalence of sexual harassment and other forms of harassment and retaliation in our workforce..."
The Yellowstone investigation also looked into a charge that another female employee in the Maintenance Division had been hired because supervisors thought they could have sex with her, but the woman told investigators that her bosses never made sexual advances while she worked for them and described her supervisor as a “'wonderful boss' and said his relationship with her was friendly and supportive."
While The Montana Pioneer article also claimed a Maintenance Division supervisor had inappropriate contact with a female employee -- "blatant physical groping" -- the woman told investigators that her supervisor "had never touched her inappropriately or made her uncomfortable."
The OIG investigation did find that "between 2010 and 2016, six women who had previously worked in this unit had been subjected to derogatory comments or actions that made them feel uncomfortable..."
The OIG report was forwarded to acting Park Service Director Michael Reynolds "for any action he deemed appropriate."
Comments
Check out this woman's thoughtful, articulate story about working in a different park's Maintenance Division:
"There weren’t a lot of moments of blatant sexism, instead what I discovered at Mount Rainier was a tradition of masculinity that blew my mind."
http://she-explores.com/features/buried-sexism-at-mount-rainier/
Interesting read tahoma. She is a good writer but I'm not convinced her accusations of "buried sexism" ring true. I am not unsympathetic with the difficulties of women working in a male dominated field and I have seen many examples of unfair treatment and overt sexism and perhaps she is seeing things clearly but, is it also possible there is something else at play? There are often good reasons positions are male dominated. By the authors own admission she is not as physically strong, one very important quality when working on a trail crew. She should be grateful she has the opportunity and that she is likely getting paid the same as her male counterparts that can outwork her. Perhaps her references would not likely use the word "intense" as a description if she were a man then again maybe maybe they would. Or did they use that term not because they are sexist but because they feel the need to tip toe around someone with a chip on their shoulder and who by her own admission "over compensates". Same goes for having to ask what you would like to be called. I know I would watch what I said around someone who had a second career or hobby writing about the plight of women treated poorly by men. I could go on and on but I suspect this is as much about her own preconceived notions of men, an unwillingness to confront her own weaknesses and an inability to accept that men don't always value the same things as women (or in the same way), as it is about actual sexism.
It's a broken record throughout the National Park Service. Change will not take place until change is made. Yet again, another superintendent who does not understand how the toxic culture hurts all except career service white men. Get this: "[T]here might be a grain of truth" to the allegations. Superintendent Wenk said Wednesday that the investigative findings would spur changes in the park.