[Dcouncil] How to proceed with this incident?

Tue Nov 8 20:01:15 EST 2016

Rolf

Unfortunately I will be out for the rest of this week but I will available next week for follow-ups as necessary.

Best, Fulvia 

Sent from my iPhone

> On Nov 8, 2016, at 5:40 PM, Rolf Ent <ent at jlab.org> wrote:
> 
> Dear Fulvia,
> 
> Oops, our mails crossed. I agree, from reading her report it does not look
> like an isolated incident. I am pleased you talked to Anna!
> 
> Yes, due diligence and follow-up is required.
> 
> I do hope that perhaps a combination of Mary, you, Rhonda and me can
> get together tomorrow, as I was at a review last two days. I can free up
> most of the times tomorrow (and will try to be in by 9 am driving from DC).
> 
> Best regards,   Rolf
> 
> From: "Fulvia Pilat" <pilat at jlab.org>
> To: "Andrew Hutton" <andrew at jlab.org>, "Rolf Ent" <ent at jlab.org>
> Cc: dcouncil at jlab.org
> Sent: Tuesday, November 8, 2016 5:25:39 PM
> Subject: Re: [Dcouncil] How to proceed with this incident?
> 
> Andrew, Rolf
> 
> I talked to Anna today, and I learned  that this was not an isolated incident and that
> there has been similar instances. It is quite possible that the specific incident evolved just the
> way you describe it, but the overall response of other operators and supervisors sounded a bit dismissive.
> I am not advocating going to any warpath but follow up seems in order.
> I have been for years on shift in (another) control room and it is not always an easy environment.
> 
> Fulvia
> 
> 
> 
> On 11/8/16 5:11 PM, Andrew Hutton wrote:
> Fulvia, Rolf
> 
> At Monday’s MCC meeting, I made an impassioned plea for mutual respect regardless of differences, using this complaint as the pretext .  Today, I was approached by the tech involved in this incident.  He had been asked by Shawn Frierson, one of the other operators on shift, to get some information.  He phoned back in to the control room and Anna answered the phone.  He asked for Shawn three times by name until Anna passed the call to the crew chief.  Apparently the tech asked for “Shawn” in a strong southern accent, and Anna (who is Russian and has a different accent) heard “man.”  
> 
> I know the tech well; he has frequently volunteered to mentor women students and I do not believe that he had any intention of insulting Anna.  I asked him to go and apologize to Anna and explain what had happened.  He was more than willing to do that; he has interacted often with Anna and has a high regard for her abilities.  
> 
> As for me. I do not regret going on the warpath.  Many people have come up to me and thanked me for sending a clear message in support of treating all our coworkers with respect.  This included several minorities and one who is gay.  They needed more than anyone else to know that management takes a strong stand on the issue.  
> 
> Perhaps the Diversity Council should find a way to be more vocal?  
> 
> Andrew
> 
> On Nov 4, 2016, at 4:27 PM, Fulvia Pilat <pilat at jlab.org> wrote:
> 
> Andrew
> 
> Anna is not the only one to be livid. The D&I Council will follow up on this but I think Accelerator Division should too.
> 
> Let me know how you suggest we proceed. Rolf agrees with that.
> 
> Fulvia
> 
> 
> 
> -------- Forwarded Message --------
> Subject:	Re: [Dcouncil] How to proceed with this incident?
> Date:	Fri, 4 Nov 2016 15:50:39 -0400 (EDT)
> From:	Rolf Ent <ent at jlab.org>
> To:	Anna Solopova <shabalin at jlab.org>
> CC:	dcouncil at jlab.org
> 
> 
> Dear Anna,
> 
> I think you did the right thing putting this forward to us. Let us ponder and
> get back to you with more of a reply later. Obviously, it is our job as D&I
> council to make people aware that such behavior is not accepted, you are
> completely right you have the knowledge and expertise to answer such
> questions and they should not ask foe some other (male) operator.
> 
> It is understandable that you are livid.
> 
> Bear with us, we will come back to you, and thanks for bringing this to
> our attention!
> 
> Best regards,   Rolf
> 
> From: "Anna Solopova" <shabalin at jlab.org>
> To: dcouncil at jlab.org
> Sent: Friday, November 4, 2016 3:36:50 PM
> Subject: [Dcouncil] How to proceed with this incident?
> 
> Hello, 
> I am senior female operator, I just had yet another encounter in the control room, which left me offended and, to be honest, livid. I want to do something about it, but I am not sure what. I would like to get your opinion on this. 
> 
> I am on shift and stamped in today, my crew chief and another operator are both male. A support technician called, I picked up the phone. He asked to talk to the male operator, and I asked if it is something I can help him with. He said no, he just wanted to tell another operator something. I transferred his call. Turned out this tech was informing us about a trivial, every day thing we all are qualified to deal with. I was more than capable of handling information he had, however, tech insisted on talking to the male operator. I would understand if that tech asked for a crew chief or for an operator who paged him, or if he worked on a specific issue with someone and wanted a follow-up... but this time nobody paged him, the info he had was generic, no reason not to talk to me. 
> This is not the first time it happened both with this person and some others. I never had a chance to confront them, because it is always on the phone and I find out the reason for their call afterwards. It would be weird if I called them back to complain, I think. Besides, I still will have work with these people and I don't want to start an open war. 
> I am not sure what I should do. I wrote that tech an email, but didn't send it yet...  What can you suggest? 
> 
> A second issue I have is when I brought up similar incidents in front of some other male operators and supervisors, they either laughed it off or dismissed by finding an excuse for such behavior("oh, it's just (tech), he didn't mean it"). This is also not right. If the technician didn't mean he doesn't want to talk to a woman, he should have asked for a crew chief, explained why he needs to talk to that specific male operator or just talk to an woman who answered the phone. Just like majority of people here do. 
> 
> Thank you!
> I hope I was not too confusing trying to keep identities out of the email.
> 
> Best regards, 
> Anna Solopova
> 
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