LITTLE ROCK — An employee who filed a sexual-harassment grievance against a Board of Parole member said she’s not satisfied with the board’s handling of her complaint and wants the member to be removed from the board.
LaQuishia Robinson, an administrative specialist for the board, filed the grievance in September over comments that she said board member Jimmy Wallace of England made to her, including asking to see a tattoo on her breast and saying he saw nothing wrong with having “nice eye candy around the office.”
After investigating the grievance, a board member directed Wallace to attend sexual harassment training. Robinson said that’s not enough.
“I feel uncomfortable, and I shouldn’t have to continue to feel uncomfortable, because I have to work with this person every day,” Robinson said.
On Tuesday, Robinson appealed the board’s handling of the complaint to the State Employee Grievance Appeal Panel, which will rule on whether any further action is warranted.
Wallace, a 65-year-old former mayor of England, was appointed by Gov. Mike Beebe to a seven-year term on the Parole Board, at a starting salary of $79,310, in February. He declined a request for an interview Tuesday.
The seven-member board grants parole to prison inmates, makes recommendations on applications for pardons and sentence commutations and revokes the parole of offenders who violate the terms of their supervision.
Robinson, 31, who handles clerical tasks for the board’s hearing examiners, has worked for the board since 2006.
In her grievance, Robinson said that she and her supervisor, Lois Jean Hansberry, were talking at Robinson’s desk on the afternoon of Aug. 25 when Wallace walked by and told them to “stop gossiping.”
Robinson said Hansberry told Wallace the two were talking about their weight. Robinson said Wallace responded, “Y’all weight is just fine, I like little women.” She said Wallace added, “All the women up here have nice bodies, I don’t like big women” and “all of y’all are nice to look at, there is nothing wrong with nice eye candy around the office.”
The next day, Robinson wrote, Wallace told her he wanted to see the tattoo on her breast. When she told Wallace he couldn’t see it, he said, “Hell you shouldn’t have them if I can’t look at them.”
On Sept. 1, Robinson wrote, Wallace asked her about a tattoo of a Chinese writing on her upper left arm. Robinson said she told Wallace the writingsays, “Love hurts,” in Chinese. She said Wallace responded, “The love I had last night didn’t hurt.”
After Robinson filed her grievance, Solomon Graves, the board’s administrative services manager, wrote that he would forward the information to the board’s chairman, Leroy Brownlee.
Graves added that, “should the allegations warrant,” he would recommend that Wallace be given a written reprimand and ordered to attend training on sexual harassment.
In an Oct. 28 letter to Robinson, Parole Board member Richard Mays Jr. wrote that he had conducted a “thorough investigation” into the grievance and had “verbally counseled” Wallace about sexual harassment. He said Wallace was scheduled to attend sexual harassment training that day.
Robinson appealed Mays’ decision to Brownlee. Brownlee responded in a Nov. 12 letter that Mays’ handling of the grievance was “appropriate” and “consistent with actions taken in the past by this board.”
Brownlee and Mays declined requests for interviews Tuesday. Department of Community Correction spokesman Rhonda Sharp said the board declined to say whether Wallace was reprimanded.
Beebe spokesman Matt De-Cample said the governor will wait until the appeal is finished before making any comments about how the grievance was handled.
Robinson’s complaint isn’t the first time a board member has been accused of inappropriate workplace behavior.
In May 2007, Lary Zeno, an appointee of former Gov. Mike Huckabee, resigned after an investigation into several complaints, including that he routinely hugged a female employee and patted her buttocks, had photographs of nude women and a man on his state computer and told a female employee that his favorite things were “p***y and p***y.” Zeno denied the allegations and told an investigator he tried to delete the e-mails from his computer.
A pool of 34 employees from across state government rotate to serve on three-member panels that hear appeals of employee grievances, said Jackie Moore, manager of the state Office of Personnel Management’s employee training section. An appeal filed Tuesday likely wouldn’t be heard for at least a few months, Moore said.
According to the board’s policy, if the panel upholds the Parole Board’s decision, the panel’s decision is final. If it overturns the decision by Brownlee, he could appeal to Department of Finance and Administration Director Richard Weiss, who would then have the final say.
Arkansas, Pages 12 on 11/24/2010