A state engineer fired in 2014 for giving sexually inappropriate buttons to a female co-worker will be reinstated with $173,000 in back pay and a raise after successfully appealing his termination.
Bruce Flippin will return to a $91,000-annual job with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources on Monday, two years after the incident that led to his firing. An administrative law judge has concluded Flippin violated DNR work rules but that termination wasn't justified under the circumstances, which included an offbeat relationship with the woman and inadequacies in DNR's disciplinary investigation.
At issue was whether DNR had cause to fire Flippin after he gave buttons to two colleagues that contained phrases with sexual innuendo as "gifts" at DNR headquarters. One woman thought the buttons — made on a machine Flippin owns that manufactures political-style pins — were a hilarious gag. But the other thought they were vile and complained to her supervisor.
Flippin told DNR managers that he believed both women would find the buttons humorous that he didn't mean to offend. DNR fired Flippin for unbecoming conduct and violating the state's sexual harassment policy.
Flippin, 52, appealed, arguing he used poor judgment but didn't deserve to be fired.
Administrative law judge Jan Berry ruled in June that DNR managers didn't do enough to investigate whether the buttons were really unwelcome to the woman or to consider Flippin's lack of prior disciplinary infractions during his six-year state career. The three-member Public Employment Relations Board reduced Flippin's punishment to a five-day suspension.
Flippin told investigators that he and the woman who complained, a DNR purchasing agent, had a relationship "featuring humor about bodily functions and sexual behavior, as one where offense would not be taken by either."
Flippin's behavior violated rules barring "horseplay, harassment, verbal abuse, or similar unbecoming conduct" but didn't rise to sexual harassment under state policy because it didn't create an ongoing hostile environment, Berry ruled.
http://www.press-citizen.com/story/...tes-fired-engineer-2-years-back-pay/78069562/
Bruce Flippin will return to a $91,000-annual job with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources on Monday, two years after the incident that led to his firing. An administrative law judge has concluded Flippin violated DNR work rules but that termination wasn't justified under the circumstances, which included an offbeat relationship with the woman and inadequacies in DNR's disciplinary investigation.
At issue was whether DNR had cause to fire Flippin after he gave buttons to two colleagues that contained phrases with sexual innuendo as "gifts" at DNR headquarters. One woman thought the buttons — made on a machine Flippin owns that manufactures political-style pins — were a hilarious gag. But the other thought they were vile and complained to her supervisor.
Flippin told DNR managers that he believed both women would find the buttons humorous that he didn't mean to offend. DNR fired Flippin for unbecoming conduct and violating the state's sexual harassment policy.
Flippin, 52, appealed, arguing he used poor judgment but didn't deserve to be fired.
Administrative law judge Jan Berry ruled in June that DNR managers didn't do enough to investigate whether the buttons were really unwelcome to the woman or to consider Flippin's lack of prior disciplinary infractions during his six-year state career. The three-member Public Employment Relations Board reduced Flippin's punishment to a five-day suspension.
Flippin told investigators that he and the woman who complained, a DNR purchasing agent, had a relationship "featuring humor about bodily functions and sexual behavior, as one where offense would not be taken by either."
Flippin's behavior violated rules barring "horseplay, harassment, verbal abuse, or similar unbecoming conduct" but didn't rise to sexual harassment under state policy because it didn't create an ongoing hostile environment, Berry ruled.
http://www.press-citizen.com/story/...tes-fired-engineer-2-years-back-pay/78069562/
