A top Tennessee prison administrator who was fired last month for sending pornographic and racially insensitive e-mails as the head of internal affairs was hired back three days later, The Tennessean reports. Then Donald Dunaway, 52, was placed on administrative leave pending termination yesterday after the newspaper inquired about his rehiring. Department of Correction Commissioner George Little said he approved the rehire because other department executives had committed greater violations and been demoted to their previous civil service ranks in the past.
Dunaway and a special agent he supervised, Joe Vernon, exchanged e-mails with titles such as “Adults only please” and “How to serve a man a drink” for about a year. In a termination letter, Little wrote, “Your duties include investigating allegations of inappropriate workplace actions. These violations taint the credibility of your investigations.” Sexual harassment has been a problem for the department in the past. Commissioner Quenton White left in 2005 after he promoted an administrator who sexually harassed co-workers. White also faced harassment allegations himself.
Link: http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061005/NEWS0201/610050386