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Sounds like "North Country" all over again . . . On Sat, Jan 26, 2019 at 3:54 AM Louis Proyect via Marxism < marxism@lists.csbs.utah.edu> wrote: > ******************** POSTING RULES & NOTES ******************** > #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. > #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. > #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. > ***************************************************************** > > NY Times, Jan. 25, 2019 > A Nuclear Site Guard Accused Colleagues of Sexual Assault. Then She Was > Fired. > By Katie Benner > > Smoke blinded the security guards inside a warehouse at a nuclear > weapons facility in Nevada. Clangs and shouts filled the air. > > Amid the din, a guard named Jennifer Glover was thrown to the ground, > handcuffed and hit across the face with the butt of a gun. One man ran > his hands up her legs, she said, then grabbed her buttocks and groin. > Another flipped her over, reached into her top to grab her breasts and > ripped out her nipple ring. > > By the time the smoke cleared, they had disappeared. > > Ms. Glover could not identify her attackers. But she said she knew they > were her colleagues, fellow guards taking part in a training exercise at > the Energy Department’s highly classified Nevada National Security Site, > where researchers and scientists conduct top-secret nuclear experiments > and develop responses to chemical, biological and nuclear emergencies. > > The encounter in November 2017 followed months of sexual harassment that > she said began soon after she was hired. Her troubles worsened after she > reported the attack: Men continued to harass and intimidate her, she > said, and they accused her of informing on them. She was reprimanded for > calling out sick, which she said she did to avoid her attackers, and was > ordered to undergo psychiatric evaluations. > > “Work went from being so exciting to being a nightmare,” said Ms. > Glover, who described her experience in an interview with The New York > Times, as did three other current or former security guards, all of whom > she had confided in as the events unfolded. > > Ms. Glover accused her co-workers, called security police officers, or > SPOs, of repeated harassment. > > Her accusations highlighted an entrenched culture of discrimination and > retaliation on her team, known as the Proforce, that employees say > flourished under two government contractors, Centerra and SOC, according > to the interviews; Equal Employment Opportunity Commission complaints > she filed against the contractors; and a review of internal documents, > including emails between Ms. Glover and human resources managers. > > “A significant portion of the Proforce do not believe they can raise a > safety issue without fear of reprisal,” officials wrote in a 2015 health > and safety report by the Energy Department. > > The attack on Ms. Glover underscores the difficulty of changing a > hypermasculine culture, even as accounts of workplace sexual harassment > and assault have drawn widespread condemnation and pledges to do better > in the #MeToo era. > > Ms. Glover was never told whether management identified or disciplined > her attackers. After the encounter, two guards were suspended for days > for “knowingly spreading false and malicious stories or rumors about > other employees,” according to letters between Centerra and their union > representative obtained by The Times. Their role in Ms. Glover’s attack, > if any, was unclear. > > Ultimately, after The Times began asking about the attack, Ms. Glover > was fired for scheduling infractions and taking a photo of her schedule, > which SOC called “company documents.” Her use of profanity also placed > “the safety of the site in jeopardy,” according to her termination > letter from SOC, which began managing the security force last spring. > > Ms. Glover’s termination letter cited her use of profanity and “general > disrespect.” > > Centerra, the nuclear site’s security contractor at the time of the > assault, declined to comment beyond saying that it creates “work > environments free from all forms of harassment and retaliation.” A > spokeswoman for SOC, Holly Holt, said this article contained > “significant inaccuracies in the facts and premise” but declined to be > more specific. > > “We expect our contractors to address any allegations of inappropriate > behavior and hold employees accountable for any misconduct that occurs > following a full and timely investigation,” said Lindsey Geisler, a > spokeswoman for the Energy Department. > > Early Worries > > When a recruiter for Centerra reached out to Ms. Glover in 2016 about a > job, it “sounded too good to be true,” she said. > > She had been a gun range safety officer and owned her “own armory.” She > was an amateur bodybuilder, a pursuit that prepared her for the job’s > physical demands. Centerra offered $130,000 a year, a sizable salary > that she could support her two children on as a single mother. > > “This job was everything I’d ever wanted,” she said. She eagerly applied > and was hired. > > The Proforce members have little immediate supervision. Small groups of > armed guards patrol the site, a tract the size of Rhode Island, on jeep > rides, in watchtowers and from secure rooms. Shifts can last 12 hours or > more. > > Of the 150 or so guards, only about a dozen are women, and little has > been done to curb a longstanding culture of gender discrimination, > current and former guards said. Managers were dismissive at an > anti-harassment training session last year when employees described > instances of sexism, according to an employee who later complained about > the session to a supervisor. > > “Women who complain are retaliated against,” said Gus Redding, a > security officer who himself filed an Equal Employment Opportunity > Commission case alleging that SOC retaliated after he spoke in defense > of Ms. Glover. The two are now dating. > > During her training, Ms. Glover said, she learned that senior guards had > passed around a picture from Facebook of her in a bathing suit. A woman > on the force warned her that the men “were like dogs.” > > During her first work assignment, guarding the site’s gates, men > catcalled her from cars, she said. A passenger grabbed her leg as she > walked the aisle of a site bus. A colleague exposed himself during a car > pool. Rumors flew that she was sleeping with co-workers if she simply > ran into them at the gym or the supermarket. > > Ms. Glover said Centerra, the company that ran the site when she was > hired, did not respond after she reported the bus and car-pool > encounters. She abandoned the car pool, drove herself 90 minutes each > way to work, joined a different gym and shopped farther from home. She > memorialized the episodes in complaints to the E.E.O.C. > > Ms. Glover said in a complaint that colleagues began to harass her soon > after she started. > > One of the heads of the Proforce propositioned Ms. Glover in text > messages, according to a declaration in her complaint submitted by Colin > Care, a training manager. Ms. Glover said she made an excuse about being > busy with her daughters, worried that her boss would retaliate. > > She laughed off some of the harassment and insults, rejected > propositions and complained to colleagues. But whether good-humored, > polite or angry, Ms. Glover’s pushback made her a bigger target. > > “Jenny is very vocal,” said Nathan Buck, a former colleague. “She let > people know where she stood, and was singled out and got harsher > treatment.” > > An Attack Amid Chaos > > Still, the year and a half of harassment did not prepare Ms. Glover to > be attacked. > > During a day of simulated attacks, Ms. Glover was assigned to rob the > training area. Eager to complete the mission, her adrenaline ran high. > “I’m thinking, this is awesome I get to do this,” she recalled. > > While she pretended to steal secret materials, her helmet’s monitor > notified her she was hit, she said. She fell to the ground. Deafening > bangs and shouts and a fog machine limiting visibility mimicked the > chaos of an attack. > > She heard boots scuffling and prepared to be searched. But instead, she > said, a man took her rifle and hit her in the mouth. Still, she assumed > it was simply a rough search. > > She was handcuffed. Then she felt another man run his hands over her > legs and squeeze her buttocks and groin. > > “We’d been trained to search over and over, using the backs of our > hands,” she said. “I’m thinking, ‘You don’t grab a girl with both hands.’” > > The first guard flipped her onto her back. “He put his hand inside my > shirt and grabbed my breasts and squeezed them,” she said. He pulled out > her nipple piercing. She caught a glimpse of her attacker’s arm, covered > in a tattoo. > > “As this is happening, so fast, so much going on, I can hear the > lieutenant yelling,” she said. The exercise was over. The men ran. > > Mr. Buck said he heard Ms. Glover shout in pain. He assumed it was from > being handcuffed, but then he saw her emerge from the exercise. “She was > in shock,” he said. “Her face looked frustrated and angry.” > > Ms. Glover was reeling, telling herself that she could not have been > attacked. “After all of this,” she said. “The work I put into this job. > The time I spent talking to these guys. No way.” > > But a supervisor pulled her aside and said he had told several men not > to search her that way. Ms. Glover tried to brush it off but he stopped > her, saying he had witnessed the attack. > > His response made the experience sink in, Ms. Glover said: “What I was > going through was not in my mind.” > > Later that day, two men asked Ms. Glover what had happened, then smirked > and walked away. “I was a joke to them,” she said. > > Concerns About the Investigation > > When Ms. Glover, who had also told Mr. Buck and Mr. Care about the > attack, reported the encounter and previous months of harassment to her > employer, one manager told her that this happens to women doing > male-dominated work. She stormed out of his office. > > Centerra began investigating, but Ms. Glover’s worries grew as the > inquiry unfolded. Her labor union represented both her and the men she > had accused of sexually harassing her for months. > > Investigators asked her whom she had dined with and dated, and about her > bodybuilding photos on Facebook, she said in her E.E.O.C. complaint. One > said he was friends with a man she had accused of taunting her. > > “I told them that I was being harassed, and they asked me about who I > ate a burger with,” she said. > > After the investigation, Centerra would not share its findings or tell > Ms. Glover whether it had identified her attackers. The company found > only that the two men had spread false and malicious rumors and > suspended them for a few days. > > Accusations of Retaliation > > By the time SOC replaced Centerra last March, Ms. Glover said she was > regularly calling out sick and swapping shifts to avoid sexual > harassment, as well as taunts and threats. She said that guards bullied > her by boxing her jeep in with their van and laughing as she sat trapped. > > SOC denied Ms. Glover’s request for a permanent schedule change. Soon > after The Times began inquiring over the summer about gender > discrimination, Ms. Glover received her first negative write-up for > waiting too long to call in sick. Over the following months, she was > given three scheduling-related reprimands. All of the interactions were > documented in emails from human resources workers reviewed by The Times. > > SOC also took away Ms. Glover’s certification to work around nuclear > materials or in secure areas, pending a psychiatric exam, according to > an email reviewed by The Times. When she passed the examination, SOC > asked for a second one, which she passed as well, according to results > shared by her lawyer, Jay Ellwanger. > > “This case certainly began based on allegations of shocking sexual > harassment and sexual assault,” he said. “However, it has morphed into > an equally severe case of retaliation by SOC.” > > Ms. Holt, the spokeswoman, said in an email that SOC was working to > “transform a culture that existed under the prior contractor” and that > it tolerated no harassment or retaliation. > > Eventually, SOC’s human resources department told Ms. Glover that her > allegations did not amount to unlawful harassment or a violation of > company policies, according to a letter reviewed by The Times. SOC then > fired her for scheduling infractions and for “hostility and aggression,” > according to her termination notice. > > A manager said at a recent all-hands meeting that the Glover headache > was over, according to an attendee who did not want to be named for fear > of retaliation. “The company wanted Jenny to disappear,” Mr. Buck said. > > Now, Ms. Glover’s primary job prospects are customer service positions > that pay half of what she made. > > “Other than being a mom, this job was my passion,” she said. “It has > been ripped from my hands.” > > _________________________________________________________ > Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm > Set your options at: > https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/johnedmundson4%40gmail.com -- The law locks up the man or woman Who steals the goose from off the common But leaves the greater villain loose Who steals the common from the goose _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
