NAUGATUCK — Allegations of bullying in a school system usually come from students complaining about other students.
In Naugatuck, a recent complaint comes from employees at the school system’s administrative offices who allege that bullying, verbal abuse and even threats of violence are rampant in the workplace.
AFSCME Local 1818, the union that represents support staff in the school system — paraprofessionals, secretaries, custodians and cafeteria workers — submitted a grievance Oct. 9 against all administrative staff at the Tuttle House Board of Education building that makes some serious allegations of workplace harassment. Local 1818 President Jim Healy said he brought the complaint to the Tuttle House and asked administrators not to act on it yet.
“I submitted it letting them know that if we could not meet to work out these issues, this is something I would have to file,” he said, adding that he is supposed to meet Monday with the Human Resources Department and Superintendent of Schools Sharon Locke to discuss the issues.
Those issues, according to a copy of the complaint obtained by The Sunday Republican, include:
“The employer is failing to provide a safe and harassment free work environment for all employees. Specifically, numerous employees have been subjected to bullying, yelling, incivility, verbal abuse, intimidation, sabotaging of work efforts and threats of violence. The employer has repeatedly turned a blind eye to such events, has not treated all complaints equally and/or refused to properly investigate reports that have been made and has allowed behaviors to continue and escalate. Refusal to address this serious problem has led to diminished employee morale, lack of team work, apprehension, employee absenteeism, worker compensation and even early retirement.”
Eileen Coyle, vice president of Local 1818, said there have been ongoing issues of employee-on-employee harassment for more than a year that have gone unaddressed, even though numerous complaints have been filed with the Human Resources Department.
The allegations are not that the supervisors are causing the problem, but rather that they are not working to rectify the problem.
“The administration is well aware of the fact that it is a ticking time bomb down there and nothing is being done about it,” she said.
She said employees have been out of work with hypertension caused by a stressful work environment. There have also been complaints of verbal violence and even sexual harassment, she said.
An employee who fell and seriously injured herself during a snowstorm outside of the Tuttle building in the winter, Mary Hurley, was slated to come back to work after surgery on her leg. Hurley requested a work station on the first floor, and was refused, Coyle said.
She said Hurley has opted to take an early retirement package because she physically cannot climb the stairs. Hurley, who has a pending lawsuit against employees who she claims violated her workplace privacy, could not be reached for comment.
Locke said she could not comment on the grievance or the allegations.
Locke became superintendent in July and Assistant Superintendent of Schools Chris Montini started in his current role last summer. Local 1818 says the problems were occurring before either Locke or Montini started.
In its grievance, the union is asking that the Board of Education immediately institute a program to address the problem. Union members also want the board to work with them to put a plan in place that includes, but is not limited to, the following:
• To educate all employees regarding what is expected of employees and what behaviors shall not be tolerated.
• To institute a reporting procedure to allow all employees to report incidents free from harassment and retaliation.
• To put in place a formal procedure to investigate, track, report and act on all claims.
• To guarantee independent investigations outside of the building and chain of command of the employees involved.
• To guarantee to investigate all current and past complaints.
• To put in place a system to monitor progress of the situation.
• To bring in outside trained counselors who have experience dealing with workplace bullying to access, address and help (the) employer and employees who need additional resources.
• Make any and all harmed employees whole.
The issues among Tuttle House employees have been a frequent topic of discussion around certain segments of the school district for more than a year. They became public in April, when Hurley, a clerical worker in the school system’s business office, filed a lawsuit at Waterbury Superior Court claiming that four of her co-workers went through personal information stored on her work computer while she was out of work following an accident.
The defendants in the pending suit are Bernice Rizk, Cheryl Kazalunas, Sarah Poynton and Linda LaClair. Rizk is the assistant business manager for the school system and is Hurley’s direct supervisor.
The Board of Education’s policies and procedures manual states that district employees have no expectation of privacy on their work-issued computers. Still, Hurley feels she was treated unjustly, especially since not only her supervisor but her fellow employees were allowed to look at her documents.
Union members say Hurley was one of the people who suffered harassment in the workplace in several circumstances.
Board of Education Chairman David Heller reiterated that the complaint had not officially been filed as of last week.
“The Board of Education has a grievance process per our contract with the union, and I’m confident that our human resources department will promptly review, investigate and evaluate the allegations pursuant to the processes set forth in that contract,” he said.
