jason ciaschini BUSTED AGAIN FOR GENDER DISCRIMINATION BY Gloria Sepanik

wow,MORE CORRUPTION FROM THE PUNTA GORDA,POLICE,PAM DAVIS AGENCY.MORE GENDER DISCRIMINATION BY Jason Ciaschini AND HOWARD KUNIK WHO CAUSED THE EXECUTION OF MARY KNOWLTON.WHEN WILL WE DEFUND THE DEPARTMENT AND START OVER,THE CORRUPTION MUST END.

Punta Gorda Police Department dismisses gender discrimination complaint

By ANNE EASKER

STAFF WRITER

PUNTA GORDA — The Punta Gorda Police Department recently dismissed a gender discrimination complaint filed against Captain Jason Ciaschini by Accreditation Manager Gloria Sepanik.

Sepanik states she started her employment with the agency as a dispatcher and ultimately wanted to leave the dispatch center because of Ciaschini’s “condescending and degrading” attitude.

“I have been subjected to a pattern of unfavorable treatment by Captain Jason Ciaschini based on my gender,” Sepanik wrote in the complaint. “This treatment has been on-going for a number of years and has affected many areas of my employment to include hiring, constant

fear of termination, unequal pay, job assignments, promotions, training and other terms and conditions of my employment.”

When Sepanik applied for the accreditation manager position, she claims Ciaschini asked “rapid-fire questions ... in a contemptuous tone” during her interview, which she claims was much different from his attitude during interviews with male employees.

Sepanik claims Ciaschini did not support her being placed in the same pay grade as a male employee who formerly held the position, and continued to treat her contemptuously throughout her employment, deliberately excluding her from the search for a new police chief in 2017, taking away her two-way police radio, and generally being overly critical of her performance.
A two-month investigation by Lt. Dylan Renz ultimately found the allegations not-sustained. Each of Sepanik’s individual complaints were addressed and no policy violations were found.

According to Ciaschini, he did express concerns about hiring Sepanik for the accreditation manager position, but only because other applicants were more qualified. She was initially paid less than others who held the position before her, but the discrepancy occurred due to a city-wide policy, not any action of Ciaschini’s. According to Human Resources Manager Phil Wickstrom, Sepanik’s change of position was considered a promotion, so she was not eligible for the pay increase given to new employees after a probationary period. The policy was later changed.

In 2017, Ciaschini did not include Sepanik in a list of potential participants for interviewing police chief candidates because she was already scheduled to attend a conference. The choice to take Sepanik’s police radio away was made by Chief Pam Davis, who decided the accreditation manager and records specialists had no reason to possess the radios.

In total, 22 witnesses were interviewed, nine of whom stated they interpreted Ciaschini’s behavior at times to be condescending and demeaning toward them, but nearly equal numbers were male and female.

“While this should not be accepted as evidentiary proof that Jason Ciaschini’s behavior was, in fact, condescending or demeaning, it does show that Gloria Sepanik is not alone in her interpretations,” Renz concluded. “However, it also shows that, regardless of the accuracy of these interpretations, Jason Ciaschini’s actions were not specific to female employees.”

In his statement, Ciaschini said he began taking detailed notes of Sepanik’s behavior after hearing her say she planned to file a

harassment complaint against him. The investigation was further complicated by one witness’s claim that Tom Lewis wrote the complaint for Sepanik, and “portions of it were fabricated in an effort to have Jason Ciaschini’s employment terminated, to have Howard Kunik’s employment terminated, and to set groundwork for a civil lawsuit against the City of Punta Gorda.”

Sepanik denied the statement but said she had multiple copies of the complaint before deciding which to file and had discussed it with Lewis.

Lewis told Renz he was not aware of the complaint until he was contacted as a witness. When asked about the allegation that he wrote or participated in writing it, he “did not answer the question and requested that the interview be ended.”

Reached by email Thursday, Lewis declined to answer about his level of involvement with the complaint and said only, “If this internal affairs report was written with the same level of accuracy as the Mary Knowlton report, I will be equally disappointed. The citizens of Punta Gorda deserve more.”

Neither Ciaschini nor Sepanik responded to requests for comment.

Asked about the number of employees who allegedly found Ciaschini difficult to work with, Davis provided the following statement: “When I first started as Chief of Police, it was my intention to ensure that there was open communication between the leadership of the department and all employees. I immediately started to meet with each employee individually and have begun planning for training for all of my supervisors so they can continue to grow and improve as leaders.”

Email: aeasker@sun-herald.com