Magazine May Help Suspended Worker

Esquire magazine on Tuesday offered to pay the legal fees for a city employee awaiting word on whether he’ll be disciplined because he offended a female co-worker by bringing a copy of the men’s magazine to work.

Jonnie Barr, who last week was suspended from his job as a wastewater treatment operator in Olympia, said he appreciated the offer from the magazine.

However, the check’s not in the mail just yet.

Esquire Editor in Chief David Granger said the magazine will pay Barr’s legal bills only if he loses his job for the “sole reason” that he brought a copy of Esquire to work.

“We feel it is patently absurd to persecute someone for simply being in possession of a magazine,” Granger said in a news release.

But Steve Hall, an assistant city manager in Olympia, said Barr isn’t in trouble because he brought the magazine to work.

Instead, Hall said Barr was suspended while the city investigates how the magazine ended up in the desk drawer of a female colleague who has been subject to sexual harassment in the past. Barr also apparently lied when first asked if the magazine was his, Hall said.

The city expects to announce the results of its investigation this week.