“America’s Worst Bosses” list includes former CO, XO
December 20th, 2011 | Abusive leadership Call signs Commanding officers leadership Navy | Posted by Bill McMichael
It’s one of those end-of-year best-of/worst-of lists that multiply like flies this time of year. But this one caught the eye for two reasons: It purports to list America’s Worst Bosses — and who hasn’t got a story to tell about an awful supervisor? — and it lists a former Navy commanding officer and a fired executive officer among its 100 worst for 2011.
According to “the eBossWatch panel of workplace experts,” coming in at No. 25 was Cmdr. Liam Bruen, former commanding officer of Strike Fighter Squadron 136 out of Naval Air Station Oceana, Va., who was censured by Navy Secretary Ray Mabus for condoning the hazing of a junior officer and failing to immediately stop the meeting and for retaliating when the subordinate filed a sexual harassment complaint. Bruen defended himself, saying he didn’t condone the behavior at the “call sign” meeting and properly addressed it later. Bruen retired this summer.
The No. 76 Worst Boss, Cmdr. Joseph Baxter, former XO of the Mayport, Fla.-based cruiser Gettysburg, was found guilty at a nonjudicial hearing of sexual harassment and assault. If not for a “pretrial” agreement, Baxter would have faced a general court-martial on charges of conduct unbecoming an officer and gentleman, sexual harassment, wrongful sexual contact and assault.
On the face of it, one can argue that the eBossWatch panel didn’t really do its homework by leaving off if not highly ranking Cmdr. Jay Wylie, former Momsen CO, who was court-martialed and convicted for an alcohol-fueled rape of an enlisted woman in his shipboard cabin and, on a separate occasion, sexually assaulting a junior officer while drunk.
It’s the third year in a row eBossWatch has published its Worst list. The group was launched in 2007 “to help people avoid hostile work environments and workplace bullying” and enables members to anonymously rate their bosses to help job seekers avoid the worst workplaces.
The group subtitles itself with, “Nobody should have to work with a jerk.”
There must be more than meets the eye
February 7th, 2011 | Abusive leadership Chief of naval operations Chiefs JAGMAN Military dog handling Navy secretary Retirement eligibility Retirement Grade Determination Board | Posted by Bill McMichael
Senior Chief Master-at-Arms Michael Toussaint had an anniversary of sorts Feb. 5: It marked one year since his Retirement Grade Determination Board met in Norfolk, Va., to decide which grade he would take into forced retirement after having his re-enlistment request denied by Adm. Gary Roughead, the chief of naval operations, and being censured by Navy Secretary Ray Mabus in the fall of 2009 over alleged abusive leadership practiced while serving as the top sailor at Bahrain’s military dog division in 2005 and 2006. Yet Toussaint, who passed the 20-year mark for retirement eligibility in January 2010, a couple of weeks before the board met, has hung on for more 12 months.
The Navy will say only that the three-member Norfolk board’s grade recommendation to allow Toussaint to retire as a senior chief “is still being reviewed.” It won’t say where the review stands in that process. Or whether it has reached the desk of Juan Garcia, assistant secretary of the Navy for manpower and reserve affairs, who is the “final adjudicating authority” for such cases, according to Lt. Justin Cole, a Navy spokesman.
That’s the same thing the Navy told us in November.
Toussaint’s case sounds sensational. And given the actions Roughead and Mabus have already taken, some sort of discipline would appear on its face to be a given. A 2007 command investigation uncovered more than 90 instances of gambling, consorting with prostitutes, hazing and abuse of junior sailors took place on the 2004-2006 watch of the former military dog kennel chief in Bahrain.
He and his lawyers denied the most serious claims at the two-day determination board hearing, however, with Toussaint telling the board that his other actions had been misconstrued, the Virginian-Pilot newspaper reported.
Meanwhile, Toussaint remains in uniform — assigned to the ultra-secretive Naval Special Warfare Development Group, headquartered at Oceana Naval Air Station’s Dam Neck Annex.