A supervisor at a state office in Boulder was put on leave this week after a complaint alleging sexual harassment and up to $200,000 worth of wasted time in the office.
The Colorado Department of Human Services confirmed Thursday that Rob Buzogany, supervisor of Boulder’s Division of Vocational Rehabilitation, is on paid administrative leave.
“It is really for the protection of all concerned,” human services spokeswoman Liz McDonough said. “This does not in any way mean the investigation is going in one direction or another.”
Buzogany said Wednesday, the day he was put on leave, that he had been advised to relay all questions to McDonough.
The move comes three days after division counselor Wanda Leingang filed a complaint with several state and federal agencies accusing her co-workers and supervisors of abusing their on-the-clock time.
Leingang also alleged a hostile work environment, retaliation and intimidation among her colleagues.
Leingang accused Buzogany of sexual harassment for three gag images that contained nudity or sexual content.
She said he e-mailed the staff a Halloween image of a naked, obese woman with a jack-o’-lantern painted on her.
In another incident, according to Leingang, Buzogany showed staff members copies of an image about differences between men and women – “a nude male child holding a remote in one hand, his private part with the other,” Leingang wrote in her complaint. “The female child was holding a telephone in one hand and a purse in the other hand.”
A third image, copied on the office printer, was titled “What Sex Does to the Brain.”
“The brain was sectioned with figures of human male and female bodies that were positioned throughout the brain area having intercourse and orgies,” Leingang wrote.
Buzogany took over in the Boulder office last year, replacing a female supervisor who left after Lein- gang filed a sexual-harassment claim against her.
Leingang could not be reached for comment Thursday, but her husband, Dennis, said the meeting went well. “So far,” he said, “they are working with her.”
