CareerSource chairman to employees: 'Nobody's job is in jeopardy.'

With state investigations underway, leaders at CareerSource Tampa Bay and CareerSource Pinellas are assuring employees their jobs are safe and planning a marketing campaign to highlight people they helped.

Richard Peck, chairman of the CareerSource Tampa Bay board, talked with staffers at an office in Hillsborough County earlier this week and told them the problems were a "clerical error."

"This happens. Nobody is at fault," Peck told the staff in Hillsborough, according to a partial written transcript of his comments obtained by the Tampa Bay Times. "And they are blowing this thing out like we are falsifying numbers."

The Department of Economic Opportunity is looking into whether the two agencies took credit for putting people to work whom they had not actually helped and whether they received state incentive money based on exaggerated figures.

Several state and federal lawmakers have called for separate inquiries into the job centers, including state Sen. Darryl Rouson, D-St. Petersburg, who asked the state attorneys in Hillsborough and Pinellas to open criminal probes on Wednesday. Last week, the governor urged the board of directors of both agencies to "consider appropriate disciplinary and administrative action" and to "review all leadership" at the job centers.

Peck, who did not provide details about the nature of the "clerical error" during the staff meeting, said that he had "answered all the complaints" related to the investigations.

"I have found nothing I personally think is wrong," said Peck, who runs the manufacturing company QTM, Inc. in Oldsmar. "... Nobody's job is in jeopardy."

Peck did not return a message seeking comment for this article.

The state investigation began after the Times asked the Department of Economic Opportunity about how the two agencies were reporting job placement figures. Some people who CareerSource claimed to have helped told the Times they had not used the agency to find a job. Several employers also told the Times that CareerSource had routinely requested copies of their complete hiring lists, which included workers who had not used CareerSource's services.

Pinellas Sheriff Bob Gualtieri found upon review that the job centers had taken credit for placing 624 department employees, but he had no record of CareerSource ever recommending those people for positions. The sheriff severed his agency's contract with the program.

Top CareerSource staff, meanwhile, are working on a marketing campaign of "success stories" to get positive news out about the agencies, according to emails obtained by the Times.

"We need 4-5 success stories with photos ... the deadline for submission is March 1, 2018," wrote Haley Loeun, the business services director for CareerSource Tampa Bay and CareerSource Pinellas. The goal, she wrote, is "to communicate our resources and services to the public."

The email did not directly mention the current controversy, but it was sent out under a subject line that included the words "URGENT REQUEST".

For years, both CareerSource offices under president and CEO Edward Peachey have been lauded for their record of putting people to work, routinely ranking higher for job placements than most of the other 22 CareerSource centers across Florida. The local offices receive millions in tax dollars each year to train and connect people to jobs. Peachey earned about $291,000 in 2016, according to payroll records.

Last week, as part of a brief phone call with a Times reporter, Peck called Peachey "fantastic." At the meeting in Hillsborough, he advised CareerSource employees not to rush to judgment.

"This is America, people. You are innocent until proven guilty," said Peck, according to the transcript. "We have crucified Ed Peachey. But this is the way the media now goes. We find the person guilty then we turn around. Has Ed Peachey done it? I don't know. Nobody has proven anything to me."

Peck made vague reference to a complaint, involving a "file already in Tallahassee on Ed Peachey," but said he had investigated the matter and doesn't "think (Peachey) did it." Peck did not describe in detail the nature of the complaint. Instead, he transitioned into his own views on the reporting of workplace harassment.

"If you are a woman and you come in and you let somebody say some off-color joke to you or you let someone touch you and you don't stop it right away, the next time it happens and it gets out of hand -- in my case I would fire both people," Peck said. "I am not saying I was right, but I feel very strongly. Any employee has to stand up for their rights and not be embarrassed to."

The governor's office directed questions about any complaints against Peachey to the Department of Economic Opportunity, which sent the Times a statement saying it couldn't confirm or deny the existence of such a filing during an ongoing investigation.

Peck asked staffers to talk to him if they had any complaints about CareerSource's work.

"I guarantee you, I am very transparent," he said in the transcript.

Peck is part of the executive committee of the CareerSource Tampa Bay board, which plans to meet Friday afternoon to consider next steps, in accordance with the governor's letter. The CareerSource Pinellas board executive committee met Wednesday morning and voted to create an ad-hoc committee to determine whether the agency improperly reported job placements.

At that meeting, in his first public comments on the controversy, Peachey told the CareerSource Pinellas executive board that the state developed the system for reporting numbers.

"I did not originate this or anything else," he said, later urging that he not be placed on paid leave during the investigations. "Right now, I feel my obligation is to the CareerSource boards and my staff."

Peck, for one, said he believes in the work.

"I have been to Washington for CareerSource Tampa Bay," he told employees. "I think we are one of the leaders in the country."