County Plans Training in Harassment Issues

SANTA ANA — Over the next six months, the county will provide training to all 2,000 of its managers, supervisors and executives on how to deal with sexual harassment in the workplace.

The training, which will be performed by a law firm that specializes in workplace issues, comes as the county grapples with four high-profile sexual harassment cases, including one that resulted in the firing last week of Assistant Sheriff Dennis LaDucer.

County officials said the training is not being arranged in response to the recent rash of sexual harassment and sex discrimination cases but rather marks an effort to bolster staff development programs that were cut in the wake of Orange County’s 1994 bankruptcy.

“We continued to provide [such] training through the bankruptcy, but it was not as extensive as we would have liked,” said Bart Bartlett, manager of the county’s Equal Employment Opportunities Access office. “Now, we are able to beef up the program . . . and make sure people are aware of the law and its provisions.”

The training will touch on what is considered “appropriate conduct” and how managers should deal with complaints of sexual harassment. Bartlett said most managers have already received the training at one time or another and that the new classes will be a “refresher.”

In June, the county mailed copies of its sexual harassment guidelines to all 14,000 employees in their pay envelopes. The guidelines said employees should refrain from “making unwanted sexual advances” or creating an “intimidating, hostile and offensive” work environment.

The LaDucer case is the most prominent of four sexual harassment complaints either pending or recently lodged against county managers.

LaDucer stands accused in a civil suit of making inappropriate comments to Lt. Wendy Costello as well as groping her and other female Sheriff’s Department employees. After an internal investigation into the allegations, Sheriff Brad Gates last week fired his longtime aide. LaDucer’s attorney, however, denies that the lawman did anything wrong.

Health Care Agency Director Tom Uram is named in a sexual harassment suit brought by former county Finance Director Eileen Walsh, who contends Uram made off-color remarks about women and treated female employees improperly. Uram has denied any wrongdoing, and the case is set to begin later this year.

And three Health Care Agency workers filed suit last week, charging that their managers denied them promotions because of their gender.

A top Social Services Agency administrator was placed on administrative leave earlier this year after being accused of sexual harassment.

Despite the cases, county officials insist that sexual harassment and sex discrimination do not appear to be major problems in county government. “I feel one or two public cases can distort the picture,” Bartlett said. “We run a good shop.”

He said employees have submitted only two sexual harassment cases to his office over the last few years.

In one case, an employee alleged sexual and racial harassment. Officials found some merit to the charge and issued a written warning to the person accused.

In the other case, an employee claimed she was sexually harassed and then given a poor performance evaluation after complaining. Investigators didn’t find evidence of harassment but did find merit to the retaliation charge. So they asked that the evaluation be rewritten.