After OUC employees complain, investigation finds supervisor abuse, perception of racism and favoritism

An investigation of employee complaints at OUC’s Stanton Energy Center found that workers were subjected to supervisor abuse and that they feared retaliation for speaking out about managerial conduct, documents obtained by the Orlando Sentinel show.

The Orlando Utilities Commission paid a Winter Park law firm $66,000 to investigate after five calls last year from unidentified employees to the utility’s hotline and a letter signed “Stanton Energy Center Machine Shop.”

“We are verbally abused and intimidated with derogatory statements to the point of humiliation,” stated the letter pleading with general manager Clint Bullock for help. “Mr. Bullock, we have had enough. We are taking this home to our families and it is affecting our home lives.”

Morale, one caller said, was “so bad it’s unbelievable.”

Stanton Energy Center, in east Orange County, is part of Orlando Utilities Commission, a public entity belonging to the city of Orlando.

The investigation included interviews with 59 current and former employees. The probe did not find proof of racism or favoritism. But the inquiry documented that workers perceived racism and favoritism as factors in promotions, that they were subjected to supervisor abuse and that they worried about speaking out.

In particular, a high-ranking supervisor, Jonathan Janis, “crossed the line,” investigators stated.

Janis, said witnesses, “was physically threatening and angrily threw objects such as washers and hard hats at employees and across the Plant, even splitting a hard hat in half because he threw it so hard,” and he “boasted about working an employee so hard that he put him in the hospital in critical care.”

Janis remains a supervisor but has been demoted as a result of the findings.

Early on, Stanton’s director, Dwayne Campbell, sought to discredit the anonymous complaints as “malicious,” according to employees interviewed by investigators.

Last week, OUC management initially told the Sentinel that the investigation “found nearly all of the allegations to be unfounded.” Utility representatives further commented Friday.

“We care about our employees and we believe how we handled this issue by conducting an extensive third-party investigation and implementation of an action plan based on the results demonstrates a commitment by OUC to address concerns from employees in an independent and objective manner,” the utility said in a statement.

OUC’s management did not grant requests for interviews with Bullock or other employees, nor did it provide a representative for comment.

The investigative report recommends more consistent disciplinary measures to avoid the appearance of racism, an environment in which employees feel allowed to report concerns, and more objective procedures for promotions.

The OUC statement said those suggestions have been addressed but provided little detail.

Orlando Utilities Commission has 1,238 employees and provides water and power to 250,000 customers in Orlando, Orange County and St. Cloud. Profit from customer billing has enabled OUC to deposit nearly $1.5 billion in Orlando’s general fund since 2000.

In their 35-page report, investigators described Stanton as “the heart of OUC” with the widest variety of generators – using coal, natural gas, solar and landfill methane – in Florida.

Stanton was established in the 1980s and has grown steadily. With landmark chimneys in east Orange County, Stanton is one of Florida’s biggest electricity producers, requiring billions of dollars to construct and operate.

The report states “the investigation revealed insufficient evidence to conclude” that Stanton managers were racist in promotion decisions.

Investigators from the firm Allen, Norton & Blue emphasized the perception of racism and favoritism.

“The favoritism that has been evident … has lent itself to a perception by some that race has been a motivating factor,” the report states.

The city’s utility is overseen by a commission of five members, who spend a portion of their monthly meetings praising the dedication of workers in ceremonies conducted by vice presidents and attended by family members.

Most board members did not learn of Stanton’s discord until this month, when they were alerted by staff that the Sentinel had obtained the investigative report and was preparing a story.

Neither the investigative report nor the corrective action plan – specified in OUC’s response to the Sentinel – were given to board members, said OUC spokesman Tim Trudell.

“I have no comment,” board chairman Cesar Calvet said late last week. “Right now, we see it as a personnel matter.” Board members also not commenting or returning calls were Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer, General Motors executive Britta Gross, property lawyer Gregory Lee and Mt. Sinai Missionary Baptist Church pastor Larry Mills.

Dyer’s spokeswoman, Cassandra Lafser, when asked if the board was obligated to respond to charges of racism, favoritism and abuse at Stanton, said in an email that “As OUC is independently operated, day-to-day operations are handled by OUC staff and administration. That would include personnel matters.”

One of the anonymous callers to the hotline described the problems at Stanton as etched in workplace norms.

“There is a lot going on at Stanton especially at the Mechanical Shop. A lot of bad things like favoritism, discrimination, harassment, retaliation, etc,” the caller said, adding that most workers don’t want to speak out for fear of losing their jobs.

“Everybody knows about this,” the caller said. “But this is Stanton. Nobody investigates or doanything about this place. It’s like Human Resources has a blind eye on Stanton. Rules don’t apply here.”

Another caller attributed nepotism and favoritism as “the good old boy system.”

The investigative report did not examine a larger issue of what set the stage for Stanton’s workforce concerns and how the behavior of supervisor Janis was tolerated for years while known about by so many.

“Given the sheer number of employees who have stepped forward to corroborate these allegations, there is no dispute in our view that Mr. Janis has engaged in behavior as a Supervisor that has crossed the line …,” the investigators wrote.

Investigators found that criticisms of “abusive and harassing conduct” on the part of the 30-year employee occurred before and after he became a top supervisor a decade ago.

His outbursts, according to witnesses, included threatening to “kick someone’s f—— ass,’ and referring to an employee as a “fat f—.”

A witness stated the outbursts would take place in a closet referred to by employees as the “woodshed.”

“Witnesses claim Mr. Janis did this so there would be no witnesses,” the report states.

Janis’ personnel file, obtained by the Sentinel, foreshadowed investigators’ findings.

His first evaluation in 1990 said “Jon needs to think about what he says to others before he says it” and he “needs to work harder with cooperating with others.”

A 1999 evaluation referred to “conflicts with fellow workers,” that he “sometimes gets upset with small setbacks,” but that “he is improving on controlling his temper problems.”

In 2008, Campbell – the plant manager said to have dismissed the anonymous complaints as malicious – promoted Janis from a field of 11 candidates to be Stanton’s maintenance supervisor.

Janis told investigators “he did not consider his behavior hostile or harassing.”

Investigators recommended that OUC consider removing Janis from a supervisory role, enrolling him in anger-control training and firing him for future instances of abuse.

Janis was then demoted from overseeing 30 workers to supervising a half-dozen. In December, he was suspended for five days without pay as a result of the investigation.

The suspension notice states: “Jon, the claims made and substantiated are serious in nature. Effectively immediately, you are required to demonstrate the ability to lead with integrity and civility.”

Obliged to sign the notice, Janis left a pair of overlapping loops as a signature and next to it wrote: “Under protest.”

His pay of $115,689 remains unchanged but he is barred from a raise in 2019.

Along with Janis, investigators probed Stanton management from the highest ranks to those with minimal supervisory duties.

Wade Gillingham, longtime director of Stanton and now an OUC vice president, was scrutinized for contributing to an atmosphere of favoritism.

“Mr. Gillingham has admittedly developed and fostered friendships and connections with workers at the Plant,” the investigators’ report states. “This has included such activities as hunting, golf, race cars and dinners. We do not by any means condemn or criticize Mr. Gillingham for engaging in such activities with employees.”

The report goes on to suggest that Gillingham “be more mindful of how such relationships can impact a perception among his subordinates that someone ‘has an in’ with the boss.”

Gillingham was provided coaching, according to OUC’s statement to the Sentinel.

Since the investigation, OUC has conducted a survey of employee attitudes. The results are under review by utility leaders but the Sentinel was unable to obtain a copy.