Retaliation or Not? The Shannon Reed Case

A special thanks to Michael Volpe for this article.

Here’s his bio:
Since 2010, Michael Volpe has dedicated himself to exposing the wrongdoing of the powerful as a freelance investigative journalist. In 2012, Michael was keynote speaker for the Eugene V. Katz Award at the Center for Immigration Studies. His 2013 expose of Rosilyn Wells, who was an Affordable Care Act navigator despite an arrest warrant, made national headlines. His series of articles on the Memphis VA Medical Center in 2014 and 2015 were featured on the O’Reilly Factor and helped lead to the dismissal of the hospital’s director. Since late 2013, he’s focused on corruption in the family court system. He was the only journalist to examine Judge Lisa Gorcyca’s —notorious for the Tsimhoni case—other cases, exposing three other cases with similar lack of due process. His books include “Prosecutors Gone Wild: the Inside Story of the Trial of Chuck Panici, John Gliottoni and Louise Marshall; “The Definitive Dossier of PTSD in Whistleblowers”; and “Bullied to Death: Chris Mackney’s Kafkaesque Divorce.”

Here’s the story:
This is a story from freelance writer Michael Volpe.

A Female US Forest Service … by on Scribd

Thanks also to Michael for teaching me about Scribd.

As I read through the story, I had a couple of thoughts.

1. People might not trust internal investigations. But who would you trust? Random contractors? A panel of female retirees? A panel from another federal agency? Something adversarial with appointed reps for each side, but who would judge?

2. For sexual harassment charges by someone against a supervisor, whether they are true, or not, or a cascading series of misunderstandings, it seems to me to be an irreparable rent in fabric the supervisor-employee relationship (think of a custody battle). It seems kind of macho management to insist/allow them to stay together. What good could come of it?

Finally, I’d be really interested in what current employees think of this quote from Lesa Donnelly.

She said that since Tooke was forced to retire the USFS has increased retaliation.
“Washington Office officials were publicly embarrassed and they’re angry at us, exemplified by – refusal to address complaints of harassment; HART inquiries performed on the women after they report harassment; trumped up charges of misconduct and poor performance; suspensions and removals – it has all increased. I’ve had as many contacts from women since March as I had when I filed the women’s class complaint in 1995.” Donnelley said.

Have you experienced or seen this in your workplace? Also, current employees could help by explaining what a HART complaint is and/or sharing a link with the current process.

17 thoughts on “Retaliation or Not? The Shannon Reed Case”

  1. Region 5 – PSW in California – run by Randy Moore has had more sexual harassment complaints than any other region. Moore does little to nothing to address the problem. He should have been fired decades ago because the complaints go back 20 years and he looks the other way. A friend of mine sued the USFS for sexual harassment back int he 80s and won. I know many FS employees who experience sexual harassment and some have filed complaints and others lawsuits. rarely do they receive justice of any kind. This agency is run on the good old boy system. It has been ethically challenged for decades and apparently now is morally bankrupt as well.

    Reply
    • Denise, they have been sending RF’s to Region 5 since the 80’s. According to his bio on the NFF page (I hate to keep counting, but only 2 of the 13 folks on the National Forest Foundation Leadership Council are women, both FS employees)d, he’s only been in R5 since 2007.. so if he were fired “decades ago” (this is 2018) that might have been before he was hired in R-5 (???).

      (My perspective: one person, even the RF, can’t change a long-standing culture without tools (which it sounds like the FS has now.. e.g., independent inspectors) and without the ability to fire people who aren’t with the program (of rooting out the problem and holding people accountable.).

      Reply
  2. The FS is, in my estimation, incapable of changing. No one is being held accountable, and Randy Moore is a primary example. If he was a lower-graded employee and there were that many complaints, it is more likely that something would have happened. But if the FS is really serious now, they need to hold people at the highest levels accountable. By not doing so, they continue to show that it is acceptable to have these things happen in the FS. The bar for getting into the FS is too low, and it’s getting lower with all of the “mass hiring” going on and the lack of qualified candidates for many positions. I remember during the early efforts on addiction in the workplace that recovering addicts stood up at the training and said that the FS was known as a very drug addict-friendly workplace. That’s why they applied for work with the FS. We’re also known as a great place for sexual predators apparently too. And bullies. And, the retaliators are at the highest levels of the organization. It’s always easiest to get rid of the lowest person on the totem pole instead of dealing with the burrowed in bully/harasser who will be more difficult to remove.

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  3. I couldn’t agree with Anonymous more. What this person says is exactly what I have heard and seen for decades from the inside and the outside. Randy Moore is a cretin. And while he has not been in R5 for 20 years he is certainly aware of what has been going on in that region. And during his tenure he has done absolutely zero to address the problem. He is spineless and looks the other way. he did the same in UT. Sharon – one can person can do a lot. Lead by example. Make examples of people who violate the law. Fire them. I have a friend right now the FS is trying to fire for filing a sexual harassment complaint that has been going on for years. Nothing is done – just make the person’s life unbearable. I don’t know about the drug culture but I do know the agency is filled with alcoholics who don’t even try to hide it. One guy I know; who is a good guy who has gotten into nothing but trouble for doing his job; keeps a bottle of vodka in his desk. I have seen him drunk at 11 AM. I honestly believe this agency can’t be fixed and should be completely abolished. There are more bad than good people and it has only worsened by lowering the bar of people hired. NFs could be put under NPS and would not be treated like tree farms. And for the life of me I have never seen so many spineless people. Seriously, I left an agency because I refused to sell my soul. People couldn’t believe I would give it all up for my principles. It was an easy decision. I have to look in the mirror every morning and no amount of money, benefits and retirement is worth being a hypocrite. By the majority staying silent this BS continues. When a few people rise up they are persecuted; when everyone rises up things change.

    Reply
    • Denise, I don’t think you could just move the agency and manage forests like parks.. you would have to change the statutes and regulations that govern the National Forests. You could combo the FS and the BLM and harmonize the harmonizable regulations and ask Congress to harmonize the statutes… but Interior agencies tend to have similar problems.

      Reply
      • Additionally, the Park Service thinks it is OK to torch off forests with temperatures over 100 degrees. Yosemite’s track record with Let Burn wildfires is very poor. Their style of ‘management’ ignores stupid humans, and their wildfires. You cannot just turn the humans off, like power lines in windy weather.

        Reply
    • Then we take this mentality farther. I worked as a worker-bee for a Scientist, Eric Knapp. Fire and fuels team. It was bad enough that he came around asking his 50 – 63 year old field crew when we were going to retire. I said, “I love my job, I have no plans to retire”. That’s when I saw the look on his face and got a creepy feeling. I went on medical leave a year and 1/2 later and was quickly forced retired. A blessing in retrospect but living in California, I am on the edge of homelessness.
      So I am bitter. However, I know things and these fancy-pants scientists did not come up with any realistic solutions to educate the public about the fire danger (Carr/Camp fires). I pleaded, but I WAS a lowly worker-bee with a degree in Forestry from HSU. The Forestry male technician on the crew was the “esteemed” one though he flirted with all the young crew ladies we brought in seasonally. Eric got another seasonal preggers. Thankfully, I am out-of-there!

      About addiction: One of the good guy co-worker’s I spent many a field day with (we were partners) measuring & collecting data on acres and acres of RESEARCH PLOTS in California. We went to HI a couple of times, it was so horrible, (in retrospect we WERE stuck on an island) that I refused to go on anymore of those trips. One day he was traveling alone in an USDA rig from Oakhurst back to Redding. I went out to the cage to help him with samples and gear. I opened the door and it reeked of cigarettes and rum & coke. There actually was a drink in the cup holder. He has since passed.

      Super-tech, I mentioned him earlier. Is a pothead. He takes a break and he’ll most in over to the workshop to take-a-hit of pot. He goes home for lunch (sometimes not returning) to take-a-hit. When training field crews he leaves to go potty, and takes-a-hit. When returning back to Redding he takes his own GSA rig so he can take-a-hit.

      Reply
  4. Concur. I’m a member of the Southern white male, good old boy class, and I couldn’t take the hypocrisy, lack of ethics, illegality either and bailed when I got the opportunity. I’ve worked for a number of employers in and out of govt/private sector and the behavior I saw at USFW would have not been tolerated anywhere else. Leadership that doesn’t want to hear it. And leadership that protects its own when something happens. How many slip-ups result in a reassignment and promotion to the WO?

    Reply
  5. I have experienced sexual harassment inside and outside of the FS. I have also worked for Randy Moore in Region 9. So, I can speak from experience when I say that, without question, Randy Moore is the best leader I have ever had the honor of working for. He is a man of the utmost integrity and honesty. He is an excellent leader, and he is decisive. He is also very approachable and cares deeply for his employees. Additionally, I can testify that he takes sexual harassment and discrimination very seriously and has zero tolerance. He leads by example.

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  6. Ms. Haines, I know about 100 women in R5 who who would disagree with you strenuously about Moore. He should be fired – period. He should have never reached the position of RF but that’s another sordid story. Perhaps he has done a 360 since R9 but I seriously doubt it. Zebras don’t change their stripes – and he is a sexist and mysoginist IMO who persecutes women who file harassment claims and THEN looks the other way while the harassment proceeds.

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  7. The inquiries were by independent investigators, outside the Forest Service. PLEASE do your homework. Shannon Reed is a documented liar and a toxic employee, why on earth are we having her represent us? This is too important!!

    Reply
    • Ellen could you please explain to nonFS and retirees how the current process works? We can’t do our homework if we don’t have a current textbook.. it seems like a case of “she said,no one else says anything due to ??regulations??” Not even “she said, he said. “ If you know part of the story it would be good to get another perspective.

      Reply
  8. All the focus seems to be on sexual harassment by males toward females, which apparently does occur — but what about all the other low-level, persistent bullying and harassment practiced by both women and men, targeting both women and men? Sexual harassment and coercion are just one expression of the culture problem. There are too many people who have been around too long and gotten too comfortable. Some managers and cliques abuse and try to force out competent coworkers so they can take undeserved promotions and divvy up larger awards among themselves. Its not a Federal job to them — it is their personal enterprise. Sexual assault is clearly criminal, but bullying and unfair treatment also seriously impact good employees’ lives . Why do so many, otherwise conscientious and well-intentioned Forest Service people stand by and allow this to happen? Because they are afraid of losing their own status and income. The real problem might not be about sex at all — but dominance and greed. Bullies and narcissists cannot tolerate exposure. If Shannon Reed is a “documented liar and toxic employee” I would think she’d have been welcomed to the club rather than fired.

    Reply
    • You are so right about the bullying and harassment and people getting comfortable. I have observed and dealt with so much of that in my 30+ year career. I always notice a difference between people who are in the FS for public service and those who are in it for themselves.

      Reply
  9. Then we take this mentality farther. I worked as a worker-bee for a Scientist, Eric Knapp. Fire and fuels team. It was bad enough that he came around asking his 50 – 63 year old field crew when we were going to retire. I said, “I love my job, I have no plans to retire”. That’s when I saw the look on his face and got a creepy feeling. I went on medical leave a year and 1/2 later and was quickly forced retired. A blessing in retrospect but living in California, I am on the edge of homelessness.
    So I am bitter. However, I know things and these fancy-pants scientists did not come up with any realistic solutions to educate the public about the fire danger (Carr/Camp fires). I pleaded, but I WAS a lowly worker-bee with a degree in Forestry from HSU. The Forestry male technician on the crew was the “esteemed” one though he flirted with all the young crew ladies we brought in seasonally. Eric got another seasonal preggers. Thankfully, I am out-of-there!

    Reply

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