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Owosso fire chief headed back to work
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Saturday, June 18, 2005 10:36 PM EDT
CHARLIE SCHAUFELE
Owosso deputy fire director Charlie Schaufele will return to work Monday following nearly a month of paid administrative leave to allow for an internal investigation into allegations of harassment by his entire full-time fire staff.
The announcement came Friday in a memo and conversation between Owosso Departm-ent of Public Safety Director Michael Compeau and Ben Butcher, Owosso firefighter and union representative.
"An investigation into the complaint you made to the Owosso City Council has been completed. Appropriate action has been taken," the memo from Compeau, and obtained by The Argus-Press, reads. "If you have any problems of this nature in the future please bring them to my immediate attention for investigation. If you have any questions regarding this please feel free to contact me directly."
Compeau declined to comment on what punitive action had been taken against Schaufele.
But for the firefighters who lodged the complaint, it is apparently an unsatisfactory outcome.
"We told city council in the letter that our problem was with the lack of action by administration. Then Compeau's put in charge of that investigation and four weeks later Schaufele's back on duty. This stinks like something rotten and has from the get-go," said Butcher.
The investigation followed a complaint to city council in mid-May when a letter signed by all 18 full-time firefighters was submitted along with 37 pages providing detailed accounts of alleged harassment and intimidation from Schaufele between Nov. 4, 2002 and April 29, 2005.
"We are writing this letter because of our continued concerns regarding the ongoing harassment, including the sexual innuendoes, vulgar language and the hostile work environment we have been forced to tolerate from Deputy Director Charlie Schaufele," the firefighters' letter began.
The letter continued that these "ongoing concerns" had been brought to the attention of Schaufele's superiors - including Compeau, city manager Gregg Guetschow and Stan Jelinek, Owosso Director of Employee Relations and DPW supervisor - but "it has become apparent that those at the management level have no intention of attempting to put a halt to these abusive actions."
The letter concluded with a request for a thorough investigation of Schaufele. It also included a statement indicating that litigation would be sought if the harassment was not dealt with in a satsifactory manner.
When contacted, Compeau said only that the matter had been resolved.
"This is a personnel matter so I have no comment," said Compeau.
Schaufele was also contacted but declined comment.
The announcement of Schaufele's return came the same day Bill West, one of the 18 firefighters who lodged the complaint against him, was fired.
West, a 19-year veteran of the Owosso Fire Department was told he was let go in accordance with policy for not providing a doctor's slip after three days of consecutive sick-leave.
Firefighters claim the explanation doesn't make sense.
"A man neglects to turn in a doctor's slip after three days and he's terminated, yet Schaufele can do all that he's done and come back with a slap on the wrist," said Butcher. "What sense does that make?"
West said he's been on sick leave since February for a stress-related condition and his doctor had been sending in slips regularly to the department regarding his treatment. West said when he told Compeau it was simply an oversight on his doctor's part and he could have a slip to the office that day, he was told it was too late.
Compeau also allegedly told West's superiors to tell West he had two minutes to get his belongings and go before he would be placed under arrest, West said. He added that it's this kind of behavior that put him on sick leave in the first place.
"It's all stress related to work - mostly Compeau, but Schaufele too."
Other firefighters say this is the kind of behavior they deal with from their administrators nearly every day.
"It's amazing how two people can take someone's idea of a dream job and turn it into a nightmare," said firefighter Dean Butler - hired seven months ago.
"It's hard to have respect for him (Schaufele) when he has no respect for us," said firefighter Jeff Hetfield. "I used to come in to work about a half-hour early because I enjoyed coming to work, we were a family. Now I'm lucky if I'm here 5 to 10 minutes early, because I dread coming here. Every day it's something new."
Butcher said the issue extends beyond just a hostile work environment for the firefighters.
"To me this is a huge safety issue, both public safety and firefighter safety," said Butcher. "Who's going to trust him (Schaufele) at a fire scene? Who's going to follow his lead? Somebody on the city council better wake up before we don't have a firefighting/medical service anymore."
