ODOT is investigating inappropriate e-mails

One of the employees is
an equal employment
opportunity coordinator.

COLUMBUS (AP) — A male state employee whose job is to prevent discrimination sent an e-mail joking about giving jobs to women with large breasts, according to a state highway department investigation.

A second Ohio Department of Transportation investigation found that a male employee who works in labor relations sent an e-mail with 13 pages of cartoons making fun of women, Hispanics and overweight people, including some cartoons depicting female nudity, according to the reports reviewed by The Associated Press.

An ODOT employee who complained about the e-mail about large-breasted women said it fit a pattern of such e-mails being sent across state computers.

“This is a sample of the types of information being sent by a very large group of State employees,” Anthony Wobler wrote in an e-mail to ODOT administrators included in a report reviewed by The AP.

“There seems to be a network of those at ODOT that send this information to each other,” Wobler wrote on June 7. He said the network might extend to top administrators in Columbus.

“This activity existed during the past administration and was discussed by me to my past supervisor,” Wobler said.

Wobler added in the e-mail that ODOT employees should create a positive work environment and “it would be quite an embarrassment” to the agency if the e-mails were made public. A message was left for Wobler seeking comment.

ODOT is disappointed by the e-mails, said spokesman Scott Varner.

“We hold our employees to a high standard, and so it is disappointing when these actions happen,” he said. He said he hoped the e-mails weren’t widespread but didn’t have more information on Wobler’s comments. The state has policies and software to prevent computer abuse, Varner said.

First investigation

The first investigation involved an e-mail titled “Hiring Practices” that depicts a photo of a woman with large breasts and a caption that reads, if a woman’s breasts ... “Touch The Wall And Her Nose Doesn’t, HIRE HER.”

The e-mail was sent June 7 to Wobler and other ODOT employees by Robert Habern, an equal employment opportunity coordinator in the department’s Lima office.

Habern, a nine-year ODOT employee, makes sure companies that receive state highway contracts follow laws prohibiting discrimination.

Habern said he sent the e-mail thinking other ODOT workers would find it funny and was “blind sided” by their reaction, according to Habern’s interview with state investigators.

Asked by an investigator why the e-mail was inappropriate, Habern said, “Well, since I work equal opportunity, I guess it is not equal opportunity.”

Habern told investigators he had never read the state’s policy on appropriate use of computers. He received a verbal reprimand for sending the e-mail, and the reprimand was noted in his personnel file. A message was left with Habern seeking comment.

Second investigation

The second investigation involved an e-mail sent June 2 from employee Ronald Wiech’s personal account to the personal account of Cheryl Evans, another ODOT employee. The e-mail also went to the personal accounts of other ODOT employees whom Wiech knew through his union work, according to the state’s investigation.

The state investigated after Evans complained about the e-mail and questioned whether Wiech should be in labor relations.

One cartoon shows a severely obese woman. Another makes a joke about women who nag, while another makes fun of menopause. One cartoon titled “Mexican Gas Chamber” involves an off-color joke about flatulence.

“Would he give a female or a hispanic a fair shake in his current position?” Evans asked during a June 5 interview with ODOT investigators. “I don’t know and I think this is why it is an ODOT issue.”

Wiech, a 16-year ODOT employee, told investigators he sent the e-mail to Evans by mistake. Wiech was also reprimanded with a letter placed in his file. Messages were left for Wiech and Evans seeking comment.

In February, the AP reported that highway department employees viewed or downloaded porn and pictures of “pretty girls” several times last year in state offices and on state-owned computers around Ohio.