Another O.C. Official Leaves Job

A second top manager accused of sexual harassment has left county government, effective this week, but county officials wouldn’t say Friday if he had been dismissed.

The departure of Kenneth Clark, director of administration for the Social Services Agency, comes on the heels of a termination notice delivered last week to Assistant Sheriff Dennis LaDucer, who was accused in lawsuits of inappropriate sexual comments and touching of employees.

Clark, a county employee since 1986, was placed on administrative leave earlier this year while sexual harassment allegations against him were investigated, sources said.

Jan Walden, assistant chief executive officer for human resources, said Friday that she couldn’t say much about Clark other than that he no longer worked at the county, effective 5 p.m. Tuesday.

“He’s an at-will employee whose appointment has ended,” Walden said.

Clark, 56, who lives in Orange, also wouldn’t say if he resigned or was dismissed.

“I have no comment at all,” he said.

The case surprised some inside the Social Services Agency who described Clark as a respected manager who oversaw budgeting, financial issues and administration for the massive department and often attended Board of Supervisors meetings.

Social Services Agency Director Larry Leaman, Clark’s boss, said he couldn’t comment on Clark’s departure.

“The county counsel’s office has advised me that this is a personnel issue,” Leaman said. “My understanding is that this is a confidential matter and that commenting could expose the county to liability.”

The allegations against Clark represent the fifth involving a top county manager accused of sexual harassment or discrimination in the past two years, and the fourth in the past several months.

Earlier this month, three management workers in the county’s Health Care Agency filed a joint lawsuit claiming they were denied promotions, harassed and retaliated against because of their gender by Jack Miller, director of the county’s environmental health division, and Steven Wong, Miller’s supervisor.

Health Care Agency Director Tom Uram is due in court in November to answer a sexual harassment suit brought by former county Finance Director Eileen Walsh, who charged that Uram repeatedly made off-color jokes about women and treated female employees unfairly.

Miller, Wong and Uram have denied wrongdoing.

Another suit filed this week accused LaDucer of raping a Sheriff’s Department employee when she accepted his invitation to visit his home. LaDucer has proclaimed his innocence and is fighting the allegations.

John Sawyer Jr., general counsel for the Orange County Employees Assn., said sexual harassment allegations involving county employees have dwindled in recent years. The rash of charges involving county managers--who aren’t represented by the union--is puzzling, he said.

“I don’t think any of us remember this many at the same time,” he said.

Sawyer added that no harassment complaints against Clark have been filed with the union.

County supervisors ordered this month that training be provided to the county’s 2,000 managers, supervisors and executives about how to deal with sexual harassment in the workplace. They said the training was unrelated to the flurry of allegations but said it was needed to “beef up” anti-harassment training that had been reduced after the county’s 1994 bankruptcy.

The management training will take place between September and January, said Linda Jenson, an attorney with the law firm of Liebert, Cassidy & Frierson in Los Angeles who will teach the course.

“It may seem like there’s a lot [of inappropriate behavior] going on, but it’s a large county,” Jenson said. “To have had so few [complaints] is pretty remarkable.”

Despite the string of publicized cases, officials maintain that sexual harassment does not appear to be a problem at the county.

They noted that employees have filed only two sexual harassment cases with the county’s Equal Employment Opportunities office over the last few years. One of those cases concluded with a written warning being issued to the person accused of harassment.

In June, the county mailed copies of its sexual harassment guidelines to all 14,000 employees in their pay envelopes. The guidelines ordered employees to refrain from making unwanted sexual advances or creating an “intimidating, hostile and offensive” work atmosphere.