Transportation NEWS September 1998 Volume 23 Number 13 _ fn .s Cq Y Odessa District Engineer Jose Morales Is sworn In as "Jose Odessa" to provide testimony Is last month's mock trial. Mcick trial, real issues TxDOT managers practice debating employment dispute in courtroom setting Jen Cannack See related columns, Pages 2, 5 managers got during a mock trial held in Public Information Office late August. his previous supervisors had let him slide. The trial, held at the University of Texas story sounds The like it could come Eventually, he is fired and sues the depart- at Austin School of Law, pitted a disgruntled from daytime television: A young ment. employee against a supervisor who had woman starts to work in an office. This is not an actual case. It was the basis allegedly discriminated against him and Soon, the boss is hanging around her desk, of a mock trial staged to give managers a later retaliated when the employee filed a going to coffee with her, giving her rides to taste of what goes on in a courtroom. Dis- grievance. The employee sued and the case work. putes between employers and employees ended up in front of a jury. A male co-worker, a longtime employee, are more often being waged with lawsuits. The characters and circumstances in the gets called on the carpet for doing slipshod And no amount of reading or listening to trial and the incidents portrayed were fic- work. He complains that the woman is get- lectures can adequately prepare a manager tional, but they were all based on actual ting preferential treatment because of her for the combat zone called a courtroom. cases. relationship with the boss. He files a griev- Short of actually appearing in court, the Jana Nava, director of the Office of Civil ance and then claims he is being retaliated best preparation a manger could get for this Rights, was one of several who helped put against for doing so. Counterclaims are that kind of experience is a realistic simulation. his work has always been marginal and that And that is exactly what a batch of TxDOT See 1imi, Page 4 Inside The El Paso District kicks off a Battling fires in Palo Duro This ain't no matador: Randy Houston, Dallas district teams program in which shredded Canyon in July required use of Calkins of the Austin District retain their titles at annual tires are used for filler. TxDOT and a fleet of bombers. fights bulls Texas style. softball tourney. Paoli Pate 7 Paie8 Pace 13 7 Drpwn t f -ra pin 2 More explicit standard addresses romance Cathy Williams assumes in the TxDOT workplace support operations post I must tell you that I find it difficult to tell people how Cathy Williams became TxDOT's Williams were staff services assis- to live their lives. I believe that a person's private life is new assistant executive director for tant, management auditor, chief just that - private. Unfortunately, there are times when support operations Sept. 1. accountant, executive assistant and employees' personal lives do affect the workplace and Williams, who has 20 years of administrative manager. our credibility with the public. service with the department, had In February 1994, Williams was I set a nepotism policy in March, but it later came to been the director of the Human appointed interim director of the my attention that there was a need for a more explicit Resources Division for more than Human Resources Division. standard. three years. She became director in October In July, I issued a memo about our new policy regard- As the AED for support opera- 1994, overseeing employee classifi- ing supervisor/subordinate relationships and nepotism. tions, she will provide guidance for cation, personnel administration, This policy, aimed at behavior, more specifically deals administrative functions working employee relations, recruitment with romantic relationships between supervisors and closely with the districts, divisions activities, management applicant their employees that are dis- and offices. She will also assist with screening and administrative staff. ruptive or are likely to setting departmental policy and Williams earned a bachelor's become disruptive. procedures. degree in personnel and human I never thought the day A native of Paris, Williams began resource management in 1980 and a would come when I would working for the department in 1973 master's degree in business admin- have to set a relationship in the Paris District office. She left istration in 1982 from East Texas policy. However, I think the department to finish school and State University. She was certified as romantic relationships carry work in the private sector, returning a Professional in Human Resources an unacceptable level of risk to TxDOT in 1985 as an accountant. (PHR) in January 1994. She is a for the department in terms During the next nine years, she member of Executive Women in of potential claims of worked in several divisions, includ- Texas Government. favoritism, discrimination or ing Finance, Equipment and Pro- Bob Eason will serve as interim sexual harassment, either curement and Human Resources. director for the Human Resources Wes Heald from the subordinate or Among the positions held by Division. * from the subordinate's co- Straight talk workers. Since the day I took this job, I spoke about account- Wichita Falls District Engineer ability. I expect the district engineers and division and office directors to be completely accountable for the actions and relationshipsof their supervisors. I know retires after 29 years of service this will not be easy, but a romantic relationship between Wichita Falls District Engineer Falls, overseeing the transportation any supervisor and an employee in his or her chain of David Peeples Jr. retired at the end of operations of the nine-county district. command simply cannot be tolerated. August with 29 years of service. A native of Drew, Miss., Peeples We are all aware that relationships seem to bring a Peeples, who began his TxDOT earned a bachelor's degree in civil built-in tendency toward suspicions of bias or career in the Houston District in 1969, engineering at Mississippi State Uni- favoritism, and while the suspicions are usually com- worked in area offices and district versity in 1965. He moved to Texas pletely unfounded, it is better to avoid the situation alto- headquarters. He worked in the dis- after graduation and worked for an oil gether than to attempt to deal with the aftermath. trict's Roadway Design Section and company before joining TxDOT. I am concerned about any romantic relationship district maintenance office. He also Peeples was licensed as a professional between employees that becomes disruptive or has a was the area engineer for Austin engineer in 1969. negative effect on the work environment. It is not good County before accepting a similar Atlanta District Engineer Gene for this department, and disciplinary action may be nec- position in the East Harris County Adams will serve in an interim posi- essary. Area Office in 1982. tion in Wichita Falls until a district This may seem like I am prying into the private lives In October 1993, Peeples was engineer is selected. * of our employees, but I have to consider the big picture named district engineer in Wichita - protecting this department from liability. Providing all employees with the best possible work environment cannot be done by written policy alone. We Chavez takes El Paso DE post are all in this together, and I'm counting on each Maribel Chavez, a 15-year TxDOT In 1991, Chavez was appointed employee to do his or her part in conducting themselves veteran, has been named El Paso Dis- executive assistant to Texas Trans- in a professional manner in an atmosphere of trust and trict Engineer effective Sept. 1. She portation Commissioner Ray Stoker Jr. fairness. replaces Eddie Sanchez, who retired to and served until her selection as dis- A former leader of our agency, Mr. D.C. Greer, often move to the private sector. trict engineer in Abilene in 1992. said, "The highway department (now TxDOT) needs to Chavez had been Abilene District Chavez is a member of the Lead- be clean as a hound's tooth." I believe that all dedicated Engineer for the past six years. She ership Texas Alumni Association and TxDOT employees have a desire to work for an agency joined TxDOT in 1983 as an engineer- has served as chairman of the board of that is free from scandal. I want TxDOT to be an organi- ing assistant in the Odessa District's directors of the Texas Alliance for zation that our employees are proud of and that our cus- Pecos area office. She later was the Minorities in Engineering. tomers respect. * assistant field operations engineer and The Pecos native earned her bache- design engineer in the Odessa District lor of science degree in civil engineer- Wes Heald is executive directorof the Texas Depart- office. She became area engineer in ing from the University of Texas at ment of Transportation. Pecos in 1989. Austin. * Transportation News is Published by the Public co o PbS le Cumn Rid mNu.l published for employees and Information Office, 125 E. 11th, Eloise Lundgren Bob Andrews District, Division retirees of the Texas Department Austin, TX 78701-2483. Phyllis Chandler and Office employees Michael Amador of Transportation. Contents are Circulation: 17,850 Helen Havelka Randall Dillard 3M SWM Geoff Appold not necessarily the official views Gabriela Garcia Ernest Lamey Griff Smith of, or endorsed by, TxDOT. Jeff Carmack Kerry Neely Kacy Hamilton Kevin Stillman Linda Ribble Al Glasscock Stan A. Williams Lisa Trow Lori Rowe Amanda Martinez Trouble getting Transportation News? Cheryl Williams Diana Ward Anne Cook Call (512) 463-8588 Transportation News September 1998 3 'The envy of all the other districts' Capable Dallas District librarian Sue Rosebrock serves as role model for others TAhn something is "one of a kind," dated with TxDOT, Rosebrock it's pretty special.