When Wendy Herron went to the city’s equal rights office in April 2005 with a complaint about workplace sexual harassment, she expected a quick, professional response.

Instead, she waited nearly a year for the city to issue a finding. When that happened last month, she received a confusing series of letters within days of each other – one saying her complaint hadn’t been substantiated, and another written the next day, incorrectly saying the case was being extended for more investigation.

Herron also thinks the city employee assigned to handle her case, Paul Winn, mingled his city business during the investigation with the affairs of the church where he is pastor, Praise Temple Church of God in Christ, 315 E. Seventh St.

Herron and her husband, John, said Winn was “pushy” in inviting them to attend the church.

She also said Winn regularly took phone calls for church-related business while she was in his office.

“It happened not one time, not two times, not three times – more than that,” she said. “I felt like he was wasting my time, basically.”

The city’s Human Relations Department, with offices at 947 N.H., is charged with investigating discrimination complaints.

It made headlines in 2005 when it successfully sued a local landlord on behalf of an unmarried interracial couple who were denied an apartment.

Shorthanded?

The city budget offers one possible explanation for the delay in Herron’s case.

Rehelio Samuel, the agency’s longtime executive director, said his department had struggled in recent years with an increased workload and smaller staff. When an employee left at the end of 2004, the city did not fill the position, leaving Samuel and a staff of three people to investigate discrimination complaints and put on educational programs for landlords and employers.

Wendy Herron has been entangled in a sexual-harrassment case that has been pending with the city's equal-rights office for the past year. She's concerned that the city employee investigating her case, Paul Winn, is putting more energy into recruiting her to attend his church than he is into investigating her case. Herron is pictured on Friday outside City Hall.

Samuel said the office receives about 2,000 calls from the public per month. Since July, it has completed 20 housing discrimination complaints and roughly the same number of employment discrimination complaints.

“I assure you that my staff and I work about 65 to 70 hours a week consistently, and we don’t get overtime,” Samuel said. “This is our contribution to the cause of equality and justice for all people.”

Winn has a caseload of eight pending discrimination complaints he is investigating, Samuel said.

Timeline

Wendy Herron first began meeting with Winn after filing a complaint with the city in April 2005 that she was the victim of sexual harassment while working as a manager at a local Presto convenience store.

She complained another employee had made improper sexual remarks to her, but the company disputed Herron’s allegations.

Herron said that on her doctor’s advice she went on medical leave from the job in April 2005, and she was terminated from the job in fall 2005 while still on leave.

A Presto representative said he and four of his employees were interviewed by Winn in June, and that was the last contact they had with him.

“As far as I can tell, the first initial part of the investigation went very smooth, and then I don’t know what happened at the city,” said Douglas Wald, a Presto vice president. “I just waited patiently because I don’t know what their caseload is.”

Church visit

As last summer went on, Herron said she grew concerned the case was taking too long.

Herron claims that during one of her meetings at the city office, Winn suggested that she and her family attend his church. The Herrons agreed to attend a Sunday evening service, and Winn picked them up at their home because they didn’t have a vehicle.

Other than the Herrons and their 10-year-old son, there were only two other people in attendance at the service: one a church deacon and one an elder, Wendy and John Herron said.

They said the following Sunday morning, Winn showed up at their door unannounced to try to bring them back to church. They didn’t go.

Winn’s version of the church visit is that it was the Herrons who first brought up the idea of visiting the church. After the family’s first visit, they expressed a desire to come the following week, he said.

“There was no pushiness about it. It was all voluntary,” Winn said. “There was no request made of them. There was no demands made of them. They told me that they wanted to come. I said, ‘That’s your choice.'”

Winn also said it was not true that he handled phone calls at work related to his church business.

Director’s response

Samuel said regardless of who brought up religion, Winn should not have allowed discussions about the church to continue at the office.

“When they asked him about his church affiliation, at that time Mr. Winn should have cut it off and said, ‘I’m not at liberty to address the issue of my church affiliation : at this time,'” Samuel said. “I feel that Mr. Winn has learned a valuable lesson.”

Samuel said he also had told Winn that he would not tolerate phone calls related to church business at work, unless members of the church are calling to inquire about services for which people normally would call the city.

Samuel said in recent weeks it was brought to the city’s attention that a listing for Praise Temple on a Web site operated by The World Company listed Winn’s city office as a contact number for the church. Samuel said as soon as he learned of that, the situation was corrected.

Winn said he didn’t know how that listing came to be.

Case closed?

On March 24, Herron received a letter from Samuel saying her case had been extended for further investigation. She went in and met with Winn again to discuss the case.

On April 3, a second letter from Samuel arrived, saying the case had been closed and that there was not enough evidence to support her claim. But the second letter, dated March 20, 2006, actually had been written the day before the first letter that said her investigation had been extended.

“If he had already made the decision to end my case, why did he call me back in after telling me they had extended it?” Herron asked.

Samuel acknowledged it was a mistake to extend the investigation after it already had been closed.

“I could appreciate her confusion on that,” he said.

But Samuel said after what both he and Winn characterized as a thorough investigation, the case has been closed.

“There is no probable cause, and it remains that way,” Samuel said.