An investigation conducted by Sacramento State concluded that retired engineering professor Miroslav Markovic created a hostile work environment, in direct violation of the university’s harassment policy.

On Aug. 7, Cici Mattiuzzi, career counselor in the College of Engineering and Computer Science, filed a lawsuit against Sac State and Markovic on seven charges, including sexual harassment, intentional infliction of emotional distress and retaliation.

Markovic could not be reached for comment.

In a letter to Mattiuzzi dated Sept. 21, Director of Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action Peter Lau completed his investigation of the harassment and retaliation complaint against Markovic, finding that Markovic’s behavior created a hostile work environment.

“It is the policy of California State University, Sacramento to maintain a working and learning environment free from discrimination and harassment,” Lau wrote. “The results of our investigation indicated that Prof. Markovic’s behavior negatively impacted the ability of staff members to perform their jobs.”

Mattiuzzi filed the lawsuit in August after documenting and filing complaints about Markovic to Sac State administration for 18 years.

According to the court documents, Markovic made sexual advances toward a student, stalked a student, assaulted a staff member and threatened to shoot an international student and two IT workers.

The suit also charged Sac State with retaliation against Mattiuzzi for filing complaints against Markovic.

Lau told Mattiuzzi in his letter that retaliation for someone filing a complaint is against university policy as well as state and federal law.

According to Executive Order 928 from the CSU Chancellor’s Office, if an investigation confirms the claims in the complaints, the university must take action in response to those complaints

“Should discrimination, harassment or retaliation be found to exist in any employment action within CSU, all appropriate measures should be taken to prevent reoccurrence and to remedy any effects of the complaint,” the order read.

After receiving the letter from Lau, Mattiuzzi e-mailed Lau saying she was a victim of retaliation.

Less than one week after filing the lawsuit in August, Mattiuzzi received e-mails from two of her colleagues informing her that they would be teaching the classes she had taught on campus for the past 25 years. Mattiuzzi said she believed having her classes taken away from her was clearly an act of retaliation.

Emir Macari, dean of the College of Engineering and Computer Science, said Mattiuzzi was unable to teach the classes she previously taught because of changes to abilities of her classification.

Associate Vice President for Human Resources Kent Porter said Mattiuzzi has been assigned as a Student Services Professional IV since 1999. As a result of a round of bargaining earlier this year between the university and the union that represents employees in her bargaining unit, it was negotiated that SSPs may no longer teach unit-bearing courses.

“Ms. Mattiuzzi is not the only person in that classification that has been affected by what came out of collective bargaining,” Porter said. “However, if she wishes, she may request a reclassification.”

Mattiuzzi said that she started as an SSP IV in 1984, not 1999. She said she has applied for reclassification three or four times, and was denied every time except for once. However, her reclassification was taken away from her after she returned from maternity leave, she said.

“There’s a pattern. Every time I apply for reclassification, it happens to be at a time when someone is coming to me about problems with Markovic, or I am complaining about him,” Mattiuzzi said. “Once you complain about sexual harassment at this university, your opportunities are trashed.”

Macari said he had no control in the changes made. The changes were not retaliation, he said.

Mattiuzzi said she never received a response to her e-mail. Shortly after she made her claims of retaliation on the part of the university, Lau announced his retirement from Sac State. Lau was unable to be reached for comment.

Porter said he and Lau had been discussing Lau’s retirement for a few months. Lau’s last day worked was Sept. 30. He is currently using his extra vacation time until his official last day with the university on Oct. 31.

“We’ve been working to address the problems with Markovic for a long time, but investigation after investigation never concluded anything,” Macari said. “I was surprised to receive this letter by Lau, since he wrote near the day he retired. Now that the investigation is concluded, Lau has retired and the professor has left the campus as well. Action is up to the courts now.”

John Kepley, assistant to President Alexander Gonzalez, said there is nothing new in the case despite Lau’s findings.

“We’re still in the process of reviewing and responding to it,” Kepley said.

Since Sac State was served with court documents in August, the university has not yet filed a response and was given an extension.

“We are hopeful that we can explore the possibilities of mediation or a settlement,” said Susan Sheridan, Mattiuzzi’s lawyer. “If that is not possible, we will give the university a deadline to file a response.”

Markovic retired from Sac State on Aug. 21. He was enrolled in a full schedule of classes and was on the list of professor expecting to receive grant money from the stimulus.

After seeing Markovic on campus on Aug. 26, five days after he had retired from the university, Mattiuzzi has been on sick leave. Her allocated sick leave should last her through March 2010, should she not return to campus before then, she said.

Mattiuzzi said she will return when she gets a reclassification and when is allowed to teach her class once again.

“If I am allowed to teach my classes again, I will return. Clearly, I cannot get it corrected on campus, so my attorney will be assisting me,” Mattiuzzi said. “I’m done going through the system. First they ignore my complaints about Markovic; then, they deny my reclassification for 25 years.”

Mattiuzzi said she is hopeful she and the university can come to an agreement and settle these issues with the help of their attorneys.

Macari said that whether or not Mattiuzzi will be able to teach again is not in his control. He said he is still waiting for her to come back, but he can’t keep waiting.

“We want her to come back. We need her to help out the students,” Macari said. “I am sad that the issues have escalated to this point. It’s not good for our students or our university.”

Brittany Bottini can be reached at [email protected].