A "don't snitch" culture in the maintenance group within Portland's Transportation Bureau has fostered a workplace where disrespectful comments, racially charged political remarks and sexist attitudes are common, a consultant found.

The bureau commissioned the report after Willamette Week reported earlier this year that employees in a small sewer maintenance crew were routinely hazed by a supervisor. New hires, an internal investigation found, were bound with duct tape and peppered with popcorn kernels, candies and other hard objects fired from an air compressor gun.

The consultant found that the hazing was isolated, according to a report released to reporters and shared with bureau employees on Tuesday.

But Brenda Carpenter, a former human resources manager for the city who left earlier this year to form a private consultancy, found that half the employees surveyed were familiar with episodes of "unprofessional behavior," such as using foul language, yelling, shunning coworkers or playing mean-spirited jokes.

Employees said some co-workers would "talk too much about politics and religion," the report said, including vocally supporting political policies that could be detrimental to immigrants or minority groups.

About one-third of participating employees said they had witnessed behavior that was derogatory to a group, culture, gender or sexual orientation. Examples included demeaning comments about women and the frequent use of the word "gay" as an insult. (Racial slurs were not used at work, employees said.)

And half of participating employees said the city failed to address unprofessional behavior.

As a result, two-thirds of employees interviewed said the best way to cope with workplace problems was not to get involved. Intervening or reporting the behavior, they said, could prompt retaliation in the form of shunning or less desirable work assignments.

Transportation Bureau Director Leah Treat said the key finding was that the 2016 hazing appeared to be an isolated incident. But she also acknowledged that it uncovered other concerning conduct.

"This clearly articulates some behavior we don't want to see from our employees," she said. "Yelling at people, calling people names, are not acceptable and not how we want to treat our employees and treat each other."

She said the bureau would form a task force — including representatives of its union, Laborers' Local 483 — to address the findings. It also will seek to add staff, including mid-level managers, some of whom oversee 15 to 20 employees. The bureau also has introduced more human resources training.

The report also found that women and people of color who participated in the survey were less likely to report feeling supported in their jobs than their white male colleagues.

Despite those findings, nearly two-thirds of participating employees described the maintenance operations bureau as a "great place to work," Carpenter wrote. That's in part because of the stability of the job compared with seasonal work in the construction industry, though budget cuts in recent years have hurt morale, the workers said.

Carpenter interviewed 44 of the division's 377 employees. Treat said she plans to conduct similar assessments in the bureau's other large divisions.

The hazing that prompted the recent assessment still looms over the bureau.

One probationary employee, a utility worker who was fired in February, filed a complaint with the state Bureau of Labor and Industries alleging his termination was retaliation for participating in the hazing investigation.

The city settled the claim with Russell Wilkinson in June, paying $5,000 and reinstating him. The city did not admit any wrongdoing in the case.

Another employee, Adam Rawlins, has notified the city that he intends to sue. Benjamin Rosenthal, a Portland attorney who represented both Wilkinson and Rawlins, filed a tort claim notice — a precursor to a lawsuit — with the city earlier this year.

In the notice, Rosenthal said Rawlins was harassed for at least six months by his coworker and crew leader, and then retaliated against after cooperating with a bureau investigation.

"No employee should have to endure the harsh treatment that Mr. Rawlins underwent," Rosenthal wrote.

A lawsuit has not yet been filed.

Treat declined to comment on the case, citing the potential litigation.

-- Elliot Njus

503-294-5034

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