NPS Employee Violated Department Policy

We investigated allegations of improper conduct and actions by a GS-15 National Park Service (NPS) employee toward another NPS employee. The NPS employee said she felt uncomfortable when the GS-15 employee placed his hand on her lower back on multiple occasions, made inappropriate comments, and reached for her cell phone when it was in her lap during a taxi ride. The NPS employee said she did not express her discomfort to the GS-15 employee until he reached for her cell phone. The GS-15 employee said he did not specifically recall placing his hand on the NPS employee’s lower back to guide her through a door, although he said he had done that with both men and women in the past. The GS-15 employee told us he could not recall taking the cell phone from the junior employee’s lap in the taxi but that he may have in order to check the time because they were running late. We determined that the GS-15 employee’s conduct violated U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) and NPS policies on preventing and eliminating harassing conduct (Personnel Bulletin No. 18-01 and NPS Director’s Order 16E, respectively) in that it was unwelcome, was based on sex, and could reasonably be considered to have adversely affected the work environment.