Heartless Hypocrisy

The federal employees who worked the Informal Claims Project  were referred to as the "Fab Five". They all served our Country honorably. A majority of the federal employees who worked this project were disabled veterans who had personally experienced processing delays of their own benefits claims.

CONTACT: Nick Schwellenbach, (202) 254‐3631; [email protected]

WASHINGTON, D.C./October 13, 2016 –   In a letter sent to the White House and Congress today, the U.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC) reported that the Veterans Affairs Regional Office (VARO) in Oakland, California, failed to process veterans’ benefits claims accurately and in a timely manner. This delayed the accurate payment of benefits to veterans and their dependents, in some cases by years. Three Oakland VARO whistleblowers came to OSC with disclosures of the Oakland VARO’s deficiencies, prompting an investigation. Those whistleblowers are Rustyann Brown, a former claims assistant, Roselyn Tolliver, a veterans service representative, and Lydia Cheney, a veterans service representative.

According to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) investigative report into the whistleblower allegations, Oakland VARO managers did not provide adequate oversight to ensure timely and accurate processing of informal benefit claims. The report noted that VARO employees did not process fifteen percent of files selected for an audit in an appropriate amount of time. Of the sixty files selected for the audit, nine featured significant delays in processing, ranging from five to more than seven years. While the nine affected veterans eventually received retroactive payments, they waited on average six and a half years for benefits. In the case with the most significant delay, VARO received an application in February 2006 from a veteran with Post‐Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), which was not correctly processed for seven years and eight months. In addition, the Oakland VARO’s recordkeeping was so poor that investigators could not find logs or spreadsheets tracking the number of unprocessed claims, thus hampering their ability to fully investigate the scope of the whistleblowers’ allegations. However, another recent VA investigation confirmed that Oakland VARO staff had not processed a “substantial amount” of claims dating back to the mid‐1990s.

While the VA has proposed more training and quality assurance reviews to remedy the problems uncovered, the VA’s investigation did not recommend discipline against VARO managers. After reviewing the whistleblowers’ comments, which called attention to the lack of management accountability, Special Counsel Carolyn Lerner found the VA’s proposed corrective actions unreasonable (the comments for each whistleblower can be found at this link, this link, and this link). The VA’s proposed actions do not go far enough to address the systemic problems discovered at this facility. The Special Counsel also urged the VA to expand on its audit of claim files.

“The whistleblowers performed a public service by bringing to light the severe delays in processing veterans benefit claims and deserve our gratitude,” said Special Counsel Carolyn Lerner. “These delays are particularly disturbing since the applicants are disabled veterans and their dependents. No veteran should have to wait years before receiving the benefits they are owed for their service to this nation.” *** The U.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC) is an independent federal investigative and prosecutorial agency. Our basic authorities come from four federal statutes: the Civil Service Reform Act, the Whistleblower Protection Act, the Hatch Act, and the Uniformed Services Employment & Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA). OSC’s primary mission is to safeguard the merit system by protecting federal employees and applicants from prohibited personnel practices, especially reprisal for whistleblowing,

By Jamie Fox #protectveteranprivacy @veteranprivacy

Thank you Whistleblowers of America (WoA) for helping me make my voice heard.

#USTOO: Whistleblowers of America (WoA) is a nonprofit organization assisting whistleblowers who have suffered retaliation after having identified harm to individuals or the public. They unite whistleblowers seeking justice. Together, whistleblowers can speak truth to power.

https://whistleblowersofamerica.org/

Today I witnessed valor. It is not often one gets to experience valor, but I have been witnessing valor ever since Whistleblowers of America became my champion.

Anyone can conjure up valor if they choose too. While valor is generally used in the context of war or the battlefield, it is also considered an element of love, linked with the act of speaking truth to power, especially when an injustice is committed. It is far too common in today’s society to pretend ignorance of the injustices of our world. Self-absorption in one’s own world is a key threat that undermines the expression of valor, and fear of consequence is the other. Valor is the aspect of your love that defends its presence in the face of injustice as measured in the society. If you don’t defend your virtues—or those too weak to defend their own—you have separated from them and have lost an opportunity to be a co-creative force in the world of form. This doesn’t necessarily mean that you must become an activist or advocate for a list of social causes. It simply requires that you defend yourself from injustice. An injustice simply requires an intervention in the moment (credit is given to James for the heart centered definition of valor).

I will now read the statement WoA submitted today for me on January 30, 2018 before the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs. You may obtain a copy of this statement from WoA’s website and I will provide a link to the document at www.heartlesshypocrisy.com blog episode #10

https://img1.wsimg.com/blobby/go/42edbf47-5ca4-4fe5-8ca3-b9eee86e9644/downloads/1c542mr07_325423.pdf

http://docs.house.gov/meetings/VR/VR00/20180130/106792/HHRG-115-VR00-20180130-SD005.pdf

To learn more, as well as, to hear future podcasts, please go to www.heartlesshypocrisy.com

There you will find a link to sign a petition to help make our voices heard in congress.

Thank you

***UPDATE*** Do NOT use OAWP  because they are working with VA management to silence whistleblowers and veterans

Please check petition page for the most current petitions

By Jamie Fox  #protectveteranprivacy @veteranprivacy

Rep. Mike Thompson Officially Inducted into the “VA Hall of Shame”

Rep-D. Mike Thompson

VA liaison Rebecca Hermosillo

       

[See Updates Below] - Rep Mike Thompson assigned a new VA liaison (hooray!)

Representative Mike Thompson and his VA liaison Rebecca Hermosillo have been officially inducted into the “VA Hall of Shame” for violating veterans’ privacy and ignoring constituents who report government corruption and who request protection from government employees who abuse their civil servant positions.

U.S. Congressman Mike Thompson represents California’s 5th district, which includes Sonoma and Napa counties. Mike Thompson and his non-veteran VA liaison Rebecca Hermosillo have repeatedly demonstrated over a period of almost 3 years that they do not care about veterans’ privacy. In fact, Hermosillo does not think safeguarding protected information is important.

Hermosillo herself violated privacy laws when she emailed me my very private and protected medical information, which included personally identifiable information (PII) and Sensitive Personal Information (SPI), such as my contact information, social security number, medical diagnosis, and other sensitive information.

I never asked Hermosillo nor authorized her to email me the documents she did. When I brought it to her attention, Hermosillo reported she had sent the documents to me through secure email. When I informed her that it was impossible to send a secure email from a government email to a gmail account, she got defensive and argued with me about it.  Since I had never met her, and it was apparent we were having a communication problem, I drove down to the Santa Rosa office to speak with her. I politely and patiently explained to her how secure email works.

After I explained to her my concerns about my private and protected information being sent via email, especially since the Chinese had recently stolen about 14.5 million current and former federal employees’ private and protected information through OPM’s data breach, Hermosillo had the nerve to tell me she did not think the Chinese, or anyone else for that matter, would be interested in stealing or using my private information. In fact, Hermosillo stated she thought the reports were all hype and didn’t think there was anything to be concerned about and completely missed the point of our entire conversation. Not only did she completely ignore what was important to me and my concerns, but that she failed to realize she had violated privacy laws. Her utter lack of understanding was very disturbing. I was puzzled by her poor privacy training and wondered how someone like her could be representing a congressman let alone be handling veterans’ claims, all of which contain PII and SPI.

Are congressional staffers not held to the same level of standard for safeguarding PII and SPI as other federal employees? In a superficial internet search I found it difficult to find any mention of congressional staffers rules of behavior regarding safeguarding the protected information of their constituents.

What I gathered from my conversations with Hermosillo was that it was a common practice of Mike Thompson’s office to be emailing veterans’ PII and SPI to them. This is very wrong on so many levels. Your congressperson should not be emailing you information containing PII and SPI even with your authorization, especially because many people do not fully comprehend all of the potential consequences in which their information could be compromised.

Since I was stuck between a rock and a hard place and really needed assistance with the VA, I said a prayer and did my best to work with Hermosillo, because really, she was my only option. Unbeknownst to me at the time, I really had no idea about the severity of the crimes bein...

By Jamie Fox  #protectveteranprivacy @veteranprivacy

On Thursday October 5, 2017, I sent the secretary of the VA, David Shulkin, an email titled “Repeatedly VIOLATED by corrupt VBA managers through privacy breaches – I respectfully request your assistance.”

I then forwarded the same email I had sent to Shulkin, to Thomas Murphy, Acting Under Secretary for Benefits, and Vivieca Wright Simpson, Chief of Staff. The email I sent to top VA leadership read as:

 

Email sent October 5, 2017:

Subject:  RE: Repeatedly VIOLATED by corrupt VBA managers through privacy breaches – I respectfully request your assistance

Dear Dr. David Shulkin,

I come to you out of desperation – I am at my whit’s end. I have exhausted every possible way I know how to resolve this issue. I started over 2 years ago at the lowest chain of command level before contacting you. I have been met with enormous resistance and bureaucratic red tape the whole way.  What is and has been happening to me is illegal, unethical, and immoral. Not only is it a breach of privacy, but it is also a breach of trust. When I volunteered to serve in the military and civil service I did not volunteer to be subjugated to the criminal abuse of public office power. Since coming forward in 2008 as a witness for a former co-worker who was being harassed – in order to help her stop the harassment -- I have been continuously harassed, punished, and retaliated against by the same people who protected the predator. I was violated (physically assaulted) in the military service. I continue to be violated (mentally assaulted) by corrupt civil service managers in the VBA who have access to all of my military records, medical records, and veteran claim file records. These people have violated my constitutional rights to fair and unbiased due process. These people have violated VA law. These people have violated moral law. Since the VA has done nothing to stop these people from violating other people’s rights, it leads me to believe that the VA as a whole condones this immoral behavior – but I refuse to believe that and that is why I am coming to you. If the VA truly cares about veterans then the VA will do what it takes to protect every veteran’s rights, privacy and property (information). What I say to my doctor is no one else’s business unless they absolutely have to view the information and were authorized to view the information. I am not interested in a lawsuit. I am interested in making the VA better for veterans, including myself. Trying to get an accurate accounting of disclosures of my C-file from the VBA should not take an act of congress and it should not take months rather the disclosures must be made available immediately upon request. When I walk into the privacy officer’s office on VHA side they will print out the list of everyone who has ever viewed my medical records while I am there in the office or they will email or mail it to me within a couple of days. It is my right to see who has accessed my private information and it is my right to restrict who sees my information. I know of no veteran who will want to work for the VA after learning what I have learned, that VA managers have carte blanche to everything with impunity!  I love my job. I love helping other veterans. I want to be what is right and moral about the VA and help those who sacrificed so much for our great country. If I get fired for refusing to tolerate the intolerable --- by having all of my rights and dignity violated --- then I will know for sure the VA is a totally corrupt and bogus entity. Please demonstrate to me through action that the VA cares about veteran’s rights and privacy and that the VA can and will do the right thing, which starts with transparency. Every veteran has the right to know who has been viewing their private information even on the VBA side and why in a timely manner,

By Jamie Fox  #protectveteranprivacy @veteranprivacy

Since getting media coverage in 2012 about my own story with the VA, people across the country have reached out to me. I listened to their stories and discovered there is a pattern of unethical practices across the country at the VA.

I listened to a few stories of women who were once employed by the VA, but had the unfortunate experience of being sexually harassed. They too, thought they were protected by law, if they came forward to get help to stop the harassment. However, once regional counsel got involved, the woman was investigated, rather than the man’s misconduct. These women were terminated based on behavioral issues. This kind of termination is so general and so vague that these women were unable to fight it in court. It reminded me in a way of how the military tends to blame the victim and blocks recourse.

When the VA slaps a woman with a behavioral issue, as the reason for why they terminated her, rather than investigating and stopping the man from harassing her, is one of the deepest injuries an institution can inflict. Not only does it bar her from obtaining other federal work, but this permanent stain on her work history, forever strips her of dignity and invalidates her as a human being.

I hope with the #Metoo movement that some of these women, who used to work for the VA, will come forward and let the public know all the ways in which the VA silences women who report harassment. My information on this subject is only anecdotal. The VA also prevents women from obtaining restraining orders, even of men who stalk women on their off time.

The VA might be more inclined to target employees on probationary status because they are the easiest employees to fire. However, for some positions probationary status can last up to 3 years. That means, for women who need to stop sexual harassment, cannot if the VA refuses to investigate those claims and would rather terminate the woman for behavioral problems. I hope an investigative journalist looks into those facts and figures in order to shed more light on the subject.

RELATED: Employees Report Sexual Harassment, Retaliation At East Bay VA Facilities

In several articles by San Francisco (KPIX 5), VA director David Stockwell talked about the complaint process, but he misled the public when he stated that the VA makes reporting harassment an easy process. Even though Stockwell apologized later for saying employees could vote with their feet if they do not like the work environment at the VA, he just happened to accidently reveal the way VA management operates. Across the country VA management uses these types of intimidation tactics behind closed doors. These kinds of statements are common and are impossible to prove, because they were given verbally.

In additional statements given to KPIX 5 by the VA, read:

“Allegations of sexual assault are very serious, and if founded are a criminal act. VA management is required to report founded criminal activity to the Office of Inspector General for investigation and victims are asked to file a police report with VA Police. Every allegation of sexual harassment presented to our management team is thoroughly assessed through various means of investigative tools, be it internal investigation or through The Office of Resolution Management until all the facts are gathered and appropriate action is taken.

There are, and will continue to be, legal and administrative consequences against employees who participate in criminal activity and/or conduct themselves in a way that is not conducive to an environment free of all forms of harassment. We have a responsibility to the Veterans we serve and our 3,500 plus employees to create an atmosphere that is safe, hold staff accountable for their actions,

By Jamie Fox  #protectveteranprivacy @veteranprivacy

Dear Oakland VA Regional Office,

I want to personally thank each and every former manager and co-worker, who not only invaded my privacy, but abused their public positions to further hurt me. You absolutely know what you did to me was wrong and unethical. For some of you it wasn’t enough that I lost my case against you for retaliating against me for reporting harassment of a co-worker. In 2013 I had cut my losses and moved on, but it appears none of you did. Instead you used your public positions to add insult to injury. I was very disappointed to learn that some of you, who I thought were good and ethical people, would take such unethical measures against me. There is no justification for what you did. I know many of you think you are well insulated from the consequences of your actions, but thankfully to our founding fathers, the First Amendment gives me the right to warn the public and expose your malfeasance and heartless hypocrisy.

My journey started when I witnessed a co-worker being harassed and I wrongly thought there were protocols in place to protect her. At the time I had no idea how much of a cruel and cowardly bunch worked at the Oakland VA regional office. I had no idea some of you would use your public positions to seek revenge against me – all because I tried to protect another co-worker from getting harassed. I know some of you wrongly think management forced me to resign because they said I allegedly failed to follow instructions when I did not send Mr. Roundtree’s denial letter. Well, I am here to set the record straight, I did follow instructions – I followed the instructions of my trainers, coaches and supervisors every step of the way. For most of my life I was a very good order follower, which is demonstrated by my many years of work and college evaluations.

While I was employed at the Oakland VA regional office, 100% of my work was reviewed by a trainer, coach, or supervisor. So you tell me, if 100% of my work was reviewed, then how did one C-file escape review? It didn’t. Nothing I had done on that case at the time had flagged anyone. So what changed several months later? It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that I was retaliated against for coming forward as a witness.

Yes, I can hear some of you saying, then why did I lose my EEOC claim for retaliation? It is difficult to win a case when there is no one forcing the VA to provide discovery. The whole EEOC system is a kangaroo court. EEOC is not there to enforce the law; rather it is there to protect the federal government.

Awe, I can hear some of you whining that I am just bitter because I lost. You are right. I am bitter because I witnessed firsthand how much the deck was stacked against the average person. I was once like you, I had faith in the integrity of our judicial system and was blind to government corruption.

There is sworn testimony of the administrative judge scolding me during my hearing for not motioning to compel discovery or motioning for sanctions. However, when I told her I sent multiple motions to compel and multiple motions to sanction to her, but never received any response from her, she went silent. My case was also placed on hold for 6 months because the judge assigned to my case, said she was too busy and didn’t have time to work on my case. Where is the justice in that?

No one can win in court if a judge doesn’t even use the law to force the VA to give discovery. When the VA did give me something they just copied material out of the EEOC investigation book, which was something I already had. I received multiple copies of the same discovery. Regional counsel also mailed discovery to the wrong address; a common tactic the VA uses. I have spoken to other people who said the VA mailed discovery to the wrong address and it took months to clear up the buffoon move...

By Jamie Fox  #protectveteranprivacy @veteranprivacy

Why? Why are VA managers allowed to scrub FOIA audits of veteran C-files? For that matter, why is Kim Graves, the director of St. Paul Regional Office, allowed to scrub FOIA audits of veteran employee C-files?

Can someone please tell me why? Why, why, why?

Why is the VA allowed to police itself?  I mean who in their right mind thinks this is a good plan? Why don’t we just have the rest of society follow this ideology and have the inmates watch the other inmates?  Or why don’t we just have thieves guard the bank?

Having the VA patrol itself is like having a fox guard the henhouse. Heck that is the very definition of a fox in the henhouse.  Who was the freaking idiot or idiots that came up with that idea?

 

If there is a fox in the henhouse folks, then that means there will be problems if there aren’t already problems. Just in case you weren’t quite clear about the relationship between a fox and a hen, I posted links on the blog of an actual fox breaking and entering into henhouse; it’s not pretty. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that anyone who has been put in a position where he or she can exploit the situation to his or her own benefit, will more likely than not exploit the situation.

In the case of Kim Graves, she has already been outed by congress, and is a known fox, who has already robbed the hen house. Yet, she has gone unpunished and remains a director of the St. Paul regional office. She has been allowed to scrub FOIA audit requests of veteran’s C-files. That means not one VA veteran employee can get an accurate audit of who has been viewing their C-file. That also means that managers across the nation can view a lot of very private and sensitive information about veteran employees and there is no way for veterans to stop them.

 

Let’s get real people. The speed limit is only as good as the number of highway patrol officers. It’s a no brainer. The VA has no one enforcing the law. Instead hires lawyers to protect the criminals and punish the ones who blurt out that the emperor has no clothes.

For some reason congress has not been able to fix the corruption at the VA. That means the only people left to stop the corruption at the VA, or any government corruption for that matter, is you. That’s right I said you. The last shield against tyranny is the average everyday person like you. Wake up folks, I am not being melodramatic. It’s already at our door steps. If veterans cannot restrict people from viewing their private information then who is next? Veterans need your help and there is something you can do that doesn’t even cost a dime, just a few minutes of your time. You can start by signing this petition and sharing with your friends.

To learn more, as well as, to hear future podcasts, please go to www.heartlesshypocrisy.com

Thank you

 

Dear VA Veteran Employees (this also includes contractors, VSO employees, work study/interns employed at VBA, and their families),

Take heed! Let no one deceive you. Be vigilant, particularly when it comes to protecting your private information. Your information is your property protected by law and anyone who does not have permission to view it - is a thief. If you are not familiar with how a veteran’s information is restricted and protected, I highly advise you to make some time to learn about it now.

Many of you wrongly believe that your co-workers and managers do not have access to the information contained in your C-file. I hate to be the bearer of bad news – but they do. Many of you wrongly believe that something in the computer software programs will deny them access. Many of you wrongly believe that some sort of alarm will ping in IT when an unauthorized person accesses your C-file. Many of you wrongly believe that the RACC restricts people from viewing your C-file. The RACC only restricts people from making changes to your C-file. Many of you wrongly believe that your co-workers and supervisors are honest people who would never access your information. Many of you wrongly believe there is a simple and efficient way to obtain recourse, such as through OSC, OIG, and the privacy officer. Many of you wrongly possess a lot of false assumptions. While it is understandable that you might think your C-file is protected due to the number of trainings you complete each year, these trainings help ethical people to do a better job at improving security.  They do little good to deter someone who is inclined to ignore these warnings.  I have no doubt that if one of your co-workers were caught he or she would be held accountable. However, I have little faith that if a manager or managers were caught snooping in veteran employee’s C-files that they would be held accountable. VA’s track record for holding managers accountable is very poor. The VA remains one of the top HIPAA privacy offenders. According to Deven McGraw, director of the Washington-based Health Privacy Project of the nonprofit center for Democracy and Technology, “It’s hard to argue against the notion that VA holds the dubious distinction of being the largest violator of the nation’s health privacy laws. Protecting the privacy of every American is important, but you would think that we would be very careful when it came to our veterans. They sure earned it.”

I am hopeful that there are more good and honest people working for the VBA than not, but to use faith alone is really rather foolish. It is your right to know who has been viewing your C-file. It is your right to obtain an unredacted accounting of disclosures (audit) of everyone who has ever accessed, viewed or queried your C-file. Further proof could come from directly observing your managers access your C-file. Stand over their shoulders and watch them pull up your digital C-file. The only way someone would not be able to view your C-file is if they did not have access to a particular security level. For example, if you are authorized to view security level 7 C-files then you could view C-files classified at security level 7 and below. Obviously anyone who does not have a security level 7 clearance would not be able to view C-files classified at security level 7 and above.

Additionally, the VA will no longer “protect” your C-file 3 years after your employment. If you happen to reside in the jurisdiction of the regional office where you used to work, the VA will not abide by the conflict of interest rule.

If you work on the health care side your C-file is classified at security level 6, expires 3 years after leaving employment, and does not receive RACC protection. Unlike VBA, your VHA records will always remained sensitized so you will be able to request an accounting of disclosures.

Episode 003

By Jamie Fox  #protectveteranprivacy @veteranprivacy

For a variety of reasons our government has not been able to make VA managers accountable for abusing their positions of power. In my case, my former VA managers at the Oakland VA regional office were able to use the new VA computer program called, Veterans Benefits Management System (VBMS), to seek revenge against me, because I came forward as a witness to report harassment of a co-worker I did not know. Since management favored the man harassing my co-worker they used their positions to protect him, rather than stop him from harassing my co-worker. Ten years later these same people used the VA system to further hurt me, by using the VA system against me, to invade my privacy – they read my medical records, military records, education and banking records and more - they tried to cut my VA benefits, made bogus claims in my name, and claimed I owed the VA money. These people know they do not have permission to be accessing my information but did it anyway, because they are never held accountable for anything. These people have access to more than 30 years of information about me. These people are unethical liars who have been allowed to remain employed by the VA and need to be stopped. Not only did I explicitly state in writing to the VA that the Oakland VA regional office did not have permission to access my information but they disobeyed a congressional letter that stated Oakland VA regional office would never have access to my information. Since no one in our current government can seem to keep these people out of my private information nor make them accountable, I need 100,000 signatures in order to be heard by congress.  The best watchdogs to stop government corruption are everyday people who pressure their representatives to do the right thing, such as legislate laws to protect veterans.   Become an everyday hero for a veteran. By signing this petition and sharing with your friends, you help me get the attention of our legislatures, who can help me and other veterans like me by:

Making the VA provide me with an unredacted list of every person who has accessed or queried any part of my C-file.

Make VA managers and employees accountable for violating my privacy and for abusing their public positions of power to commit revenge.

Pass laws that will protect my C-file and other veterans’ C-files from specific employees and managers.

Make each veteran a watchdog over their own C-file by releasing the unredacted accounting of disclosures immediately upon request & whenever requested. And make the reporting of privacy violations easy and efficient. Every Veteran has a right to know who has been viewing their private information and there must be an enforceable law to deter people from accessing a veteran’s C-file without first having authorization or permission by the veteran.

Please help me make my voice heard. I cannot do this without your help.

Thank you.

To learn more please visit www.heartlesshypocrisy.com

By Jamie Fox  #protectveteranprivacy @veteranprivacy

When I served honorably in the US Navy, I was injured in service, and was instructed by the Navy to receive help from the Department of Veterans Affairs, also referred to as the “VA”, after I was discharged.

The VA is divided into 3 main branches, National cemetery, Veterans Health Administration also referred to as “VHA”, and Veterans Benefit Administration, also referred to as “VBA”. VBA can access VHA health records, but VHA cannot access VBA records.   

The VBA created a file about me, known as a claim-file or C-file, every veteran’s C-file contains all of their military records, medical records and more.

About 10 years ago, I started working at the VBA regional office that processed and stored my C-file in Oakland California. My managers were supposed to transfer my C-file to Reno VARO within 3 days of my employment there, because it is a conflict of interest to have veteran employees’ C-files on location where they are employed. I later learned that my C-file was not transferred to Reno VARO until mid-April 2008, a whopping 5 months after I was employed at Oakland VARO.

For about 3 months I silently observed a co-worked I did not know be repeatedly harassed, with every new week the frequency and intensity of the harassment increased. I could tell it was really having an effect on her. It was also very disturbing to me to see. I did not understand why other people did not see this too.

I was not sure what to do. I thought about talking to another co-worker to get their opinion, but I had a lot of hesitations. I talked with my parents to get their opinions. I talked with several of my friends, many of who are professionals to get their advice. The resounding answer I received from everyone recommended that I report to my supervisor what I had been observing.

“Yes, Report it they all said.”

The real turning point for me was when I realized, the man harassing my co-worker was turning other people against her for no apparent or visible reason to me. There was no justification for the behavior I witnessed. I finally told my co-worker what I had been observing for the past 3 months, after a friend of the man harassing her told me, “She’s the kind of person you wrap in a blanket, drag into the locker room, and beat!” I was shocked.

 

I was very familiar with what a blanket party was after serving 5 years in the Navy. Blanket parties are a violent group attack, usually done in the middle of the night, in a barracks situation. The victims head and body are covered with a blanket, which prevent her from fighting back or identifying the assailants. While I was in boot camp, several unfortunate individuals were victim to this violence. Some received broken bones and serious head injuries. 

I told my co-worker, who I will refer to as “Ms. A”, everything I had been observing and hearing directly with my own eyes and ears. Ms. A, expressed the grief she had been silently suffering and was grateful and relieved I came forward.  We decided to speak with other employees, who also may have been directly observing the harassment. Some of these co-workers agreed to come forward as a witness.

Ms. A met with her supervisor, who I will refer to as “Ms. K,” and gave her a detailed letter. Management said they were going to investigate. However, their fact finding did not include asking any of the witnesses Ms. A had listed in her letter. Management concluded that it was a “He said, She said” complaint and considered the issue resolved without taking any further action.

I told Ms. A, “but no one asked me what I saw and heard with my own eyes and ears?”

Ms. A replied, “Management did not question any of my witnesses.

I asked, “Then how can management claim it is a he said,...