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Sharon StephensonPino, a former award-winning television anchorwoman at the Yokosuka Naval Base in Japan, claims that she was fired because she filed an Equal Employment Opportunity complaint against her supervisor for sexual battery, harassment and discrimination on the basis of her religion and gender.

According to a Merit Systems Protection Board ruling, StephensonPino's supervisor "drove her to a remote location, held her hand, grabbed her breast and tried to kiss her" in August 2002. On Sept. 6, 2002, he persuaded her to watch the movie "Carrie" in his office and while putting his arms around her, tried to kiss her.

Before she filed the EEO complaint, StephensonPino, a GS-7 TV operator/news gatherer, said that the supervisor, Michael B. Chase, discovered her plans and started an investigation, claiming she had spread false rumors about him. She filed the EEO complaint on Feb. 5, 2003, after filing an informal complaint in December 2002.

After suspending StephensonPino for 10 days in March 2003, Chase scaled her anchor time back from five to two nights a week, stopped giving her reporting assignments and denied her sick leave despite medical documentation.

She filed a second EEO complaint on June 11, 2003, alleging that Chase was retaliating against her. Four days later, Chase made an unsuccessful attempt to suspend her for 21 days on charges that she misused government equipment, recorded a person without consent and released protected information. StephensonPino, who denied these allegations, accused Chase of breaking agency overtime rules and of requesting sexual favors from StephensonPino in exchange for a promotion.

"Basically anything goes on this base," said StephensonPino, who started at Yokosuka as a graphic artist. "I like to call it Fantasy Island. It's so far away from America that most people don't know what to do when they are in a predicament."

StephensonPino said the entire base seems to be assisting Chase in his attempts to fire her in retaliation for the EEO complaints. She said the base's commander, Capt. King Dietrich, has helped Chase cover up the incidents and said sexual assault is not taken seriously.

Chase, a GS-11 supervisory public affairs specialist, declined to comment, stating that all questions had to be made in writing. Questions submitted to Chase on Tuesday received no response. In a Sept. 30, 2004, Japan Times article, the base declined to comment because the case was pending before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Investigators from the Defense Department's Office of Complaint Investigations examined StephensonPino's EEO complaints and issued a September 2003 report that StephensonPino said validated her claims. The report, according to the MSPB rulings, "stated that 'character and reputation overwhelmingly favors,' Ms. StephensonPino" over Chase and that the base likely suspended her and "reduced her duties because she filed the EEO complaint."

StephensonPino twice was nominated by Chase for Navy Broadcaster of the Year. She served as the producer and director of the six-year-old Yokosuka Report, a 30-minute nightly television news program produced by the base's public affairs office, and received "exceptional" ratings marks from Chase on her performance evaluations. While she was producing, directing and anchoring the program, the Navy Office of Information named it the best local nightly news broadcast in the Navy.

Because her overseas employment tour was going to expire, StephensonPino, who worked at the base for eight years, was told in August 2003 that her tour of duty would end February 2004 and that she could retire, resign or enter the base's Priority Placement Program. After going to the base's human resources office, she was told that she did not have to apply for the PPP until her contract expired.

Chase told StephensonPino in December 2003 that she would be removed from federal service after her contract expired because she did not enroll in the PPP. Requests from the Office of Special Counsel, which investigated the retaliation and reprisal accusations, kept StephensonPino at her job until Sept. 2, 2004, when her third MSPB stay ended.

An Oct. 20 MSPB ruling granted StephensonPino an indefinite stay on an Individual Requested Appeal. Stays granted to individuals must have a "substantial likelihood" of success, according to the MSPB. Currently, she is on administrative leave with pay.

Under the stays granted through the OSC complaints, StephensonPino had to return to work under conditions she described as a hostile. A January MSPB hearing will determine whether the base rightly fired her.

StephensonPino's EEO complaints are before an EEOC judge and her Atlanta-based lawyer Adam J. Conti said her case won't be heard until later next year. "They have been fairly arrogant throughout this entire thing," Conti said. "It's a pretty egregious situation. Other agencies would not have let this happen to begin with and not fought it so vigorously and not taken the retaliatory action."

COMMENTS

• Thanks to Mr. Pulliam for exposing this kind of mess which is prevalant in our government and armed forces but generally goes unnoticed. I hope this woman gets the help she needs and the case gets proper attention. Laura Posted November 13, 2004 1:01 AM