“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.”
A punishing fitness report
February 9th, 2011 | Anti-gay slurs Aviation Call signs Fitness reports Navy Reprisal Whistleblower | Posted by Bill McMichael
The Naval Inspector General has determined that a junior officer who accused his command of giving him anti-gay call signs was improperly punished with a bad fitness report when he complained about the environment in his squadron. The Pentagon IG agreed.
The new findings substantiate Ensign Steve Crowston’s claim of reprisal by Cmdr. Liam Bruen, former commander of Strike Fighter Squadron 136 out of Naval Air Station Oceana, Va.
Bruen, who transferred last summer to the Bremerton, Wash.-based carrier John C. Stennis as its the operations officer, has been temporarily reassigned to the staff of Naval Air Force Pacific “pending the outcome of the investigation,” Navy spokesman Lt. Myers Vasquez told Navy Times. A copy of the reprisal investigation has been forwarded to his chain of command aboard Stennis “for corrective action as they deem appropriate,” Vasquez said.
Crowston told the IG that Bruen and the unit’s then-executive officer, Cmdr. Damien Christopher, were in the unit’s ready room during an August 2009 all-officer review of squadron call signs, when Crowston was presented with suggestions such as “Fagmeister,” “Gay Boy” and the group’s final choice, “Romo’s Bitch” — a reference to the quarterback of Crowston’s favorite football team, the Dallas Cowboys. Crowston was the squadron’s administration/legal officer.
Christopher is now the now commanding officer of the unit, which flies F/A-18 Super Hornets and is deployed aboard the Norfolk-based carrier Enterprise. The Naval IG’s finding concerned only the officer who wrote the fitrep, Vasquez said.
Crowston, who is assigned to Naval Special Warfare Group 2 at Little Creek, Va., will not disclose his sexuality, saying he feels it isn’t relevant and that his concerns are for what he considers to be inappropriate workplace harassment.
Two additional Naval IG investigations remain in progress, Vasquez said. One is looking at the original IG complaint Crowston filed with Naval Air Force Atlantic, which alleged open anti-gay bias and a hostile work environment at the squadron, as well as various administrative violations. The other is examining AIRLANT’s conduct of its investigation, which substantiated four of 19 allegations. Crowston claims that the AIRLANT IG, Beverly Bilger, told him that she knew Bruen and told Bruen he’d been named.