OIG investigated allegations that Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) management and human resources (HR) officials refused to take action in response to reports that a BIA employee harassed Colorado River Indian Tribes employees and tribal members by sending them sexually explicit text and Facebook messages. We previously investigated the allegations against the BIA employee, who resigned from Federal service on May 5, 2017.
We learned that over a period of two years several women reported being sexually harassed by the BIA employee. These reports were made to the employee’s immediate supervisor, who informed the BIA manager and an HR official. The HR official advised that the employee could not be disciplined because the complainants were not Government employees and the harassment did not appear to be connected to the workplace.
We also found that based on the HR official’s guidance, the BIA supervisors did not discipline the employee even though they knew his actions, which were substantiated in our separate investigation, damaged the BIA’s reputation, undermined the trust of local tribal members, and negatively affected his coworkers. Finally, we found that little or no effort was made by BIA supervisors, management, or HR officials to investigate the veracity of the allegations or determine the extent of the problem.