Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, September 29, 1993                   TAG: 9309290224
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: LESLIE TAYLOR STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

VA BOSS HARASSED EMPLOYEE

Based on evidence presented, Sam Tiano was found to have subjected a woman employee to illegal sexual harassment. The woman filed a complaint against Tiano in April.

A notice, date-stamped Sept. 21 and posted in the lobbies of the department's four floors in the Poff Federal Building, briefly advised employees of the general counsel's findings.

"On Sept. 13, the Office of General Counsel issued a finding of discrimination in a sexual harassment complaint filed recently against Sam Tiano," read the notice, from Eastern Regional Director Raymond Avent.

"The General Counsel's decision found that based on application of pertinent statutory or case law, the evidence presented established that the complainant had been subjected to illegal sexual harassment by Tiano."

Avent reminded employees in the notice that sexual harassment "is demeaning and unlawful behavior which is unacceptable in the workplace. That kind of behavior will not be tolerated."

The VA's Equal Employment Opportunity office in Washington started the investigation five months ago into a complaint filed against Tiano by one of his employees. The allegations stemmed from what some office employees said were crude remarks that Tiano made to the employee.

The EEO's findings were sent in early July to the woman who made the complaint. She had 30 days to decide how she wanted to proceed - with a hearing before an EEO administrative judge followed by a final decision by the VA's Office of General Counsel, or with an immediate decision by the Office of General Counsel without a hearing.

On July 29, the employee, whose identity has not been revealed, waived a hearing and requested an immediate decision by the Office of General Counsel.

Tiano left his post in late April after being granted a request for personal leave. His employment status could not be determined Tuesday.

The VA appointed Stewart Liff, assistant director of the VA regional office in New York, to fill Tiano's post temporarily. Gary Cole, the Roanoke regional office's assistant director, has been serving as acting director.

The complaint against Tiano came one month after VA Secretary Jesse Brown ordered major changes in the way his department handled harassment complaints and directed all VA employees to attend four hours of sexual-harassment lectures.

Brown ordered the changes after charges surfaced that VA officials had ignored a decade of sexual harassment by top officials at the veterans hospital in Atlanta. VA investigators found that top officials - including the man who handled all harassment complaints there - had harassed women workers for years.