WSAZ Investigates | Unheard

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. (WSAZ) – She was a rising star at the West Virginia Department of Transportation.

Shawna, who has chosen not to reveal her last name or show her face on camera, started her career at the West Virginia Department of Transportation in 2019 as a secretary working for one of the district engineers.

In 2020, she was promoted to executive assistant to the number two of the agency, Alan Reed, the West Virginia State Highway Engineer. It was a job she considered a dream come true.

“I considered that an absolute honor and everything that I handled, it’s an honor you take it very serious every phone call you get with a concerned citizen, whether it’s a pothole needing fixed or they’re just needing a phone call, return,” said Shawna in a sit down interview with WSAZ’s Sarah Sager.

From there, accolades for her work started rolling in.

Shawna received a couple of awards, including Employee of the Year in 2022.

However, that same year Shawna says behind the scenes that dream had been turning into a nightmare.

SAGER: “How do you get from Vision Award, and Employee of the Year to where we’re sitting in 2024?”

SHAWNA: “I can’t answer that. I don’t know. It hurts.”

Shawna says starting in 2021 she endured inappropriate behavior from her supervisor – former WV State Highway Engineer, Alan Reed.

SAGER: “When did things start to change because seems like at that time, you were pretty happy and things were going well, you were continuing to draw, when did things shift?”

SHAWNA: “You know, Sarah, looking back, in hindsight I would say it was it was probably, you know, right away. If you look at text, there was some some difference in texting  honestly. But when it was about a year, year and a half later, I really started noticing the differences.”

SAGER: “So you’re seeing this shift, maybe like March or so of 2021. Things are changing within the department. Are you also feeling a shift with within your personal workspace with the people that you’re interacting with?”

SHAWNA: “Most definitely – more specifically with with Mr. Reed. There’s a lot of personal, a lot of personal text. A lot of late night early morning text.  A lot of physical touch. Just a lot of intimacy, to be honest, if you want to call it that.”

SAGER: “When you say physical, this became a physical encounter for him, was he touching you? Did things cross the line?”

SHAWNA: “Absolutely.”

SAGER: “Can you give me an example?”

SHAWNA: “It’s tough to talk about. It’s even more tough to tell you.”

Shawna went on to describe several instances she says made her uncomfortable in the office and work trips where she says Reed would cross the line.

SHAWNA: “I would travel with him. He has a state car. And there would be trips that he would place his hand within the inner part of my thigh. That would be about the extent of that, but extremely uncomfortable. Is that what a supervisor does to an employee? And I mean in any job, but is that what I expected my executive branch state leader to be? Absolutely not.”

In 2022, it was on two of those trips that Shawna says things escalated further.

Shawna says on a trip to Biloxi, Mississippi, Reed got a key card and got into her hotel room while she was sleeping.

Then, at a DOT Human Resources conference held at Pipestem Resort in early October 2020, Shawna says Reed grabbed her leaving bruises seen here on her arm.

Shawna says that incident was the breaking point.

After she returned from the conference, Shawna says she went directly to the head of the department, West Virginia Transportation Secretary Jimmy Wriston – who is also Alan Reed’s cousin.

SHAWNA: “I remember telling him he’s my supervisor. I think I said that like three or four times, but he’s my supervisor. I was trying to say he can’t do this. He’s my supervisor. You know, he thinks there’s a relationship. He’s my supervisor. I’m not comfortable in this. He’s my supervisor. And that’s when he said let me have a talk with him. He’s off Friday. Then he waited until I got back to my office and said, “Go home early today. Hang in there kiddo.”

Shawna says she was off work the following Monday. When she returned to work Tuesday, she went to Secretary Wriston for an update.

SHAWNA: “He said to give the situation two weeks and he had a stern talk with him over the weekend.”

SAGER: “What were the two weeks? What did he expect to change?”

SHAWNA: “I have no idea. I didn’t ask. That’s when I just felt sick when he said that. I wanted to say, “What do you really expect me to do?”. Do you know what’s already happened today?”

Shawna says at that point she filed a report with the State of West Virginia’s Equal Employment Opportunity Office on October 13th hoping to get help there.

However, the response from the head of the department of transportation just didn’t sit right with her.

SAGER: “Secretary Wriston took no action? Even moving your desk? Or putting you in another place?”

SHAWNA: “Nothing.”

WSAZ confirmed Reed was not suspended until November 3, 2022 – almost four weeks after Shawna says she took the issues to Secretary Wriston.

WSAZ’S Sarah Sager emailed, called and left a messages with Secretary Wriston to see why there was no immediate suspension or any action taken.

Secretary Wriston did not answer or return her calls or emails.

Sager also called Reed to speak with him about the allegations. He did answer her call, but would only say, “He had no comment”, and, “He did not know what she was talking about”.

What we do know is that according to a West Virginia EEO document, Shawna had a right to a decision within 70 working days of her complaint being assigned to investigators.

That paperwork was signed by Shawna and a West Virginia State Investigator on October 13, 2022.

If you check the calendar, 70 working days later was January 27, 2023 – the same day Alan Reed submitted a letter stating he was retiring effective January 31, 2023.

We also know Shawna was supposed to be notified if her case was substantiated or not substantiated, according to a West Virginia EEO complaint form found online.

SAGER: “With your EEO report,  we read through the documentation and know that you were supposed to be notified if the case had been substantiated or not substantiated. Were you ever told either way?”

SHAWNA: “No, I was not.”

Sager reached out to the State of West Virginia Department of Administration which did oversee the EEO office, to find out why Shawna never received any information. A communications director told Sager the EEO office was actually disbanded in June of 2022 – months before Shawna filled out forms that all have EEO written on them.

That same communications officials told Sager that, that office does not and did not make determinations regarding the substantiation of complaints. The communication official even went on to say, “To the extent that she expected a determination from the Office of Equal Opportunity Office, her understanding of the process was mistaken.”

However, the state’s own website and voicemail tells a much different story.

The office that took over for West Virginia’s Equal Employment Opportunity office is now called the Office of Equal Opportunity, but when you call, the voicemail for that office still says EEO.

The State of West Virginia’s Office of Equal Opportunity’s website is also full of references to EEO.

Until Monday January 22, 2024, there were even links to the same complaint form Shawna filled out in October of 2022. That complaint form has now been taken down, and the link goes to an error message.

And remember how a state communications official said they do not and never have made determinations about substantiation of complaints?

WSAZ found a 2020 West Virginia Equal Employment Opportunity Office’s annual report found online shows otherwise. It breaks down the number of complaints, and how many were substantiated. The link to that 2020 WV EEO Annual Report now goes to an error page, but WSAZ saved that report before it was taken down. You can see it here.

Sager asked for clarification, but no one from the state will call or email us back.

With no answers from the state, Shawna tells us she did retain a lawyer who put the state on notice that she planned to file a lawsuit against the West Virginia Department of Transportation, Reed, and Secretary Wriston. However, that lawsuit was never filed, because the State of West Virginia settled.

Through a Freedom of Information Request, WSAZ obtained the settlement which shows the State of West Virginia paid Shawna hundreds of thousands of dollars to drop her claims against the Department of Transportation, Secretary Wriston, and Reed. The state’s attorneys also tried to get Shawna to sign an agreement not to disclose the terms of her settlement, but Shawna wouldn’t do it.

Shawna says while she tries to move on from the situation, she just wants change for other employees.

SHAWNA: “It hurts, but all I can tell you is that’s why I’m here talking with you today. All of this has taken things from me and I don’t want anybody to ever have to endure what I’ve done. If you see something, say something, stand up for your colleagues. Stand up as a woman, that government any job you work in and know that no, not okay. No means no. Stand up for yourself.”

Copyright 2024 WSAZ. All rights reserved.