Watchdog Bytes

African Americans endured noose, racist remarks at Texas company, feds say

As if working at a San Antonio foundry wasn’t enough of a grind, black employees were subjected to vile racist treatment, according to a federal agency’s lawsuit. 

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission says in a lawsuit that African-American employees at AA Foundries routinely experienced racial harassment from its superintendent.  

The harassment included intimidation, insults and ridicule, such as a hanging noose and racially offensive pictures, posters and other types of literature," the EEOC said.  AA Foundries superintendent frequently used the “N” word and “boy” when addressing or talking about black employees, according to the agency.

“What happened to these workers was disgraceful and illegal,” said EEOC senior trial attorney Eduardo Juarez of the EEOC San Antonio Field Office.  “Rather than taking steps to stop the harassment, the company’s officials simply shrugged their shoulders and allowed the conduct to continue.  Employers have a responsibility to prevent racial harassment in their workplace.” AA Foundries is a San Antonio manufacturer of ferrous castings and producer of foundry mold machines. 

-- Darren Barbee

Hot dog company sued for sexually harassing two female employees

We typically stick to Texas stupidity on Watchdog Bytes, but a Macon, Ga., company is getting a kick in the buns after two women complained about harassment from a female general manager and were fired. Yes, it was a hot dog company, Nu-Way Weiners (motto: "I'd Go a Long Way For a Nu-Way"), one of the oldest such restaurants in the country. 

Two female employees were harassed with a daily barrage of lewd comments, gestures and inappropriate physical touching, according to a suit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity  Commission. The general manager groped the women's  breasts and buttocks and frequently asked them to accompany her to a gay club. 

The accusers said the harassment  began shortly after they started working at the restaurant, one in the summer  of 2009, the other in January 2010. “Although  the general manager made it known that anyone who complained would be fired, both  women openly opposed her inappropriate behavior and asked her to stop,” according to the EEOC. Both women were fired in the spring of 2010 by  the harasser after they had repeatedly rejected her sexual advances, the EEOC said. In business since 1916, Nu-Way cultivates “new customers by offering that famous Nu-Way taste best described as ‘insatiable.’"

-- Darren Barbee

Federal retiree? Dead? Your check is on the way.

Where’s a Death Panel when you need one?

A new federal report says dead retired civil service employees and survivors took in $120 million
annually in improper payments over the past five years.  

The U.S. Office of Personnel Management’s inspector general is concerned because retirees deaths are not reported or detected, sometimes for several years. 

The report notes, “based on past experience in investigating fraudulent payments to deceased annuitants, it is clear that one characteristic that many share is that Retirement Services does not have any ongoing interactive communications with much of this population.”

Hard to argue with that. 

 

-- Darren Barbee

 

The heat is on for Fort Bliss contractor who got air conditioner as kickback

Congratulations to our moron Burro of the week, Juventino Rosas, who sought and accepted kickbacks from U.S. Army subcontractors including a $14,000 air-conditioning system installed at his home and $5,300 in floor tile and painting work at a bar Rosas partially owned. 

Not only is Rosas a lawbreaker, he also apparently can’t do math. He faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 criminal fine. 

Rosas, who had substantial business at Fort Bliss in El Paso, pleaded guilty Thursday to soliciting and accepting kickbacks from subcontractors on a U.S. Army contract, the Department of Justice announced. 

The department said that Rosas promised favorable treatment to the subcontractors in exchange for his cool air and paint job. (The max fine may be increased to twice the gain derived from the crime or twice the loss suffered by the victims of the crime, if either of those amounts is greater than the statutory maximum fine.)  

The guilty plea is part of an ongoing investigation relating to federal contracts at Fort Bliss.  

 

 

-- Darren Barbee

U.S. Department of Justice fighting crime one $16 muffin at a time

Need a snack? The U.S. Department of Justice will now be serving themselves. On the menu at one conference was a $60,000 reception that included platters of Swedish meatballs at $5 each. (Massage not included.) 
Feeling a bit of a rumble in the stomach? Try an official DOJ $16 muffin. Or the Beef Wellington hors d’oeuvres, $7.32 per serving.
Coffee and tea at the events cost up to $1.03 per-ounce price, meaning an 8­ounce cup of coffee would have cost $8.24. You could fill a Jacuzzi with Starbucks for cheaper.
“Some conferences featured costly meals, refreshments, and themed breaks that we believe were indicative of wasteful or extravagant spending,” according to a new report by the department’s inspector general.What, like the $169 platter of smoked duck breast biscuits with apricot preserves, or the coconut shrimp for $538? Our favorite is the lunch for 65 people at the Enhancing Judicial Skills Workshop in San Francisco, Calif. that cost a decisive $76 per person.
Overall, at 10 conference reviewed by the inspector general, DOJ spent $490,000 on food, o r 11 percent.

Remember those stories about the government paying hundreds of dollars for toilet seats? Apparently the waste doesn’t stop there. 

-- Darren Barbee

Mental lightweights? Feds say men at Philips harassed, exposed themselves to female worker

The spotlight is on Philips Lighting Entertainment after the only female employee in its Dallas warehouse was barraged by sexual remarks, called a slut and had a male employee expose himself (presumably in excellent lighting), according to a suit by the federal government.
Put a light bulb above our head, we just had a profound thought: Sexually hostile environments bad.
The woman was hired by Philips Lighting Entertainment in May  2007 as a temporary employee and became a permanent Warehouse Lead in September 2007, according to a suit by the Equal Employment Opportunity  Commission. Even before  becoming a permanent employee, the EEOC says she experienced unwelcome sexually vulgar comments, advances, and touches by the warehouse  manager and by several male warehouse workers.
“She endured unwanted  touches, requests for sexual relations, money being rubbed on her body, forced  kisses, derogatory names such as 'b---h' and 'slut,' " the EEOC said. One dim-bulb is accused of exposing himself to her on the job, the EEOC said. The woman reported the harassment to management but nothing was done to stop the  conduct or impose timely discipline on the harassers. Ultimately,  the woman resigned.
Philips Lighting Entertainment, a Division of Philips Electronics North America Corp., has not yet filed a response to the suit in federal court and has no lawyer listed.

-- Darren Barbee

In the aftermath of a terrorist attack, is USDA unable to unwrap riddle of leftovers?

The feds are slacking on overseeing the nation's implementation of a food and agriculture defense policy, according to a government watchdog report. 

Hope you've already eaten: no centralized coordination exists to oversee federal agencies’ overall progress in implementing the nation’s food and agriculture defense policy. This is unfortunate because if an initial terrorist attack or disaster doesn't kill us, the leftovers might.

At one time, the White House Homeland Security Council and Department of Homeland Security took steps to gather and coordinate information about agencies’ efforts to implement a policy. Not any more. Through budget cuts or laziness -- no one is quite sure --  no agency currently does this, according to a report by the Government Accountability Office. The GAO report, which touches on several subjects, also notes that dead livestock, and this should surprise no one, aren't going anywhere. But that's the problem. Since 2007, USDA has coordinated the federal response for about 28 natural disasters, including hurricanes and floods.

Federal agencies responsibilities for disposing of animal carcasses following an emergency are unclear, which has delayed previous disposal efforts and could pose a public health risk.A joint federal, state, and industry exercise testing capabilities to control a widespread foot-and-mouth disease outbreak was bleak. “During the exercise, it was determined that burying 70,000 cattle carcasses within 4 days was not Possible,” the GAO found. In Japan, Korea and the United Kingdom, burial of carcasses on a large scale is unacceptable. For instance, in Korea, groundwater was contaminated, making the water unfit for human use. 

-- Darren Barbee

Texas-based Scooter Store smites disabled manager who lost his mobility mojo, feds say

Couldn’t they have just given him a loaner?

The Scooter Store, the nation’s leading supplier of power wheelchairs, scooters, lifts, ramps and accessories fired a mobility manager because, yep, he has a disability, the federal government says in a lawsuit. 

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission says the New Braunfels, Texas, company's files show the manager was qualified to perform his job despite a physical impairment, psoriatic arthritis.

To the facts, as the feds see them: In April 2009, the manager requested a temporary leave of absence as a “reasonable accommodation” for his disability when he injured his knee. Swiftly, as in within weeks or days, the Scooter Store, which was in New York, went and fired him “purportedly for job abandonment, although he had presented medical documentation,” the feds said.

“Granting a temporary leave of absence to this employee would have posed no undue hardship on this company and would have allowed the employee to recuperate and return to work,” said Adela Santos, trial attorney in the EEOC’s New York District Office.

Watchdog is betting giving the guy a Spitfire EX 1420 Travel Scooter Freedom Package (a $1,702 value now JUST $999!) would have been the equivalent of paying the corporate lawyer for his first four hours defending the case.

UPDATE:

Mark B. Leita, a company spokesman, said "The SCOOTER Store operates in full compliance with all State and Federal laws including those that protect the rights of the disabled.  However, the company will not comment further on this litigation."

-- Darren Barbee