Editorial: Spying on co-workers indefensible

Thursday, Dec. 10, 1998 | 10:43 a.m.

Let's hope that Clark County government supervisors -- for that matter all public employee supervisors -- get the message loud and clear: Don't ask employees to spy on fellow workers, including tape recording them secretly. This would seem to be a no-brainer, but county employee Deborah Stanton contends that Clark County General Services Director Earl Hawkes and his chief deputy, Don Thompson, encouraged her to do just that.

As the Sun's Jeff German reported Tuesday, the chain of events began in early November when Stanton, a sign-maker at the Facilities Division of the General Services Department, was asked by Hawkes and Thompson whether she had been sexually harassed while working there. Stanton said she told them that while she felt harassed it wasn't serious enough to make it public.

Ultimately, Stanton said, she was asked by Hawkes to come into his office where, with Thompson standing nearby, he gave her a voice-activated tape recorder and asked her to use it on fellow employees. "I refused and stated that I didn't feel it was necessary to spy on anyone, and I would fear retaliation against my family," she wrote in the memo to county commissioners.

Hawkes and Thompson said they regret the incident, but both deny they encouraged Stanton to use the tape recorder. While she never used it, Stanton said she took it to avoid continued pressure from the two county executives. Subsequently, Stanton said, her work environment became hostile after Hawkes' executive assistant led her to believe that she would be punished by Hawkes for failing to use the tape recorder.

They may have been sincere in their efforts to marshal enough evidence to support allegations of sexual harassment at the Facilities Division, but if Stanton's allegations are true, Hawkes and Thompson crossed the line of decency. Even government prosecutors have limits placed on them for the methods they use when investigating those suspected of wrongdoing. After members of the Clark County Commission were informed about the spying allegation, County Manager Dale Askew said Hawkes and Thompson were given a verbal reprimand for using "bad judgment."

A workplace where employees may believe someone is surreptitiously recording them is troubling and dangerous. Employees deserve to work in an environment without fearing that their next conversation might be secretly taped and replayed for their bosses.