Investigation report: No legal wrongdoing by East Lansing City Manager, but interviews raise concerns

An investigation into East Lansing City Manager Robert Belleman did not find evidence to support a city employee’s claims of sexual harassment and bullying, though multiple individuals interviewed said Belleman communicates with female employees in a more demeaning and dismissive manner.

These findings come from a report released by the city Friday from an independent investigation completed in November into allegations made by Erica Dziedzic, grant coordinator for the City of East Lansing, that Belleman made multiple sexually-charged comments at her such as calling her “too easy” and repeatedly screamed at her at work.

According to the report from the investigation performed by the Miller Canfield law firm, Belleman repeatedly denied accusations that he bullied, screamed at or made sexually suggestive statements at Dziedzic, telling investigators that he was “shocked” to hear of Dziedzic’s report.

Besides Dziedzic and Belleman, investigators interviewed six current and former city employees, none of which corroborated Dziedzic’s reports of sexual harassment. However, the conduct from Belleman some of the employees described resulted in the Miller Canfield flagging that reports that Belleman is noticeably more stern towards female employees could pose a legal risk to the city.

Belleman was selected as East Lansing’s city manager in August of 2023, shortly after he was fired from his role as Saginaw County controller amid accusations that he created a toxic workplace environment.

The accusations by Dziedzic were brought to light when she took the microphone during public comment during Tuesday’s East Lansing City Council meeting, audible gasps from the audience erupted as she outlined her story of repeated workplace abuse by Belleman.

“His nickname for me was “Too Easy “. The first time he said it to me, I had no idea what he meant. As a defense mechanism, I quickly turned it into a harmless joke. 
He would frequently say to me, ‘You’re too easy’ and laugh. To me, it felt like he was insulting either my intelligence or my sexuality. Either way, I hated it,” Dziedzic said.

Though the report says that Dziedzic told investigators it wasn’t always obvious what Belleman really meant by some of his comments or jokes, she said the intentions behind the “Too Easy” nickname was more clear on one particular occasion.

Dziedzic retold the narrative she shared with investigators with City Council Tuesday, saying one time she had been going down the stairs at a pace Belleman was teasing her for. When she said her knees are bad, Dziedzic said Belleman muttered “too easy” under his breath.

“I felt disgusted and embarrassed. I immediately pretended like the incident never happened,” Dziedzic said during Tuesday’s City Council meeting.

Other reported incidents included in the investigation summary, which the city released days after Dziedzic’s public comments, outline Dziedzic’s assertions of inappropriate workplace behavior by Belleman including several incidents where he screamed at her or others.

Dziedzic told investigators that in September Belleman berated her for an extended period of time and threatened her employment status by saying “why am I paying two grant writers”. During this same interaction Dziedzic told investigators that Bellleman questioned a meeting she had had with a police officer saying “what were you doing in there so long,” which she felt was Belleman’s attempt at making a sexual innuendo.

Two female city employees who were interviewed for the investigation spoke highly of Belleman’s professionalism and reported no concerns with his workplace behavior.

Another city employee described her working relationship with Belleman, who she reports to, as “difficult” as at times he talks to her “like he is her dad,” “talking down” to her. Though she said she hasn’t witnessed Belleman yell at anyone, she told investigators that it’s not surprising that someone would report being berated by him as he has a habit of engaging in “interrogation” style questioning when he is unhappy.

The investigation report reads, “She does not see Belleman’s conduct of badgering or interrogation or sternness as necessarily gender-based but does feel no men are in the group of individuals she would identify as the individuals Belleman engages with more harshly.”

Another individual interviewed, a former employee, said Belleman was an unpleasant person to work with and would demean people and was ultimately the reason she resigned from her job in the city. She added that Belleman was noticeably ruder to women, though he often engaged in behaviors that made the people around him feel like they weren’t respected.

The only male employee interviewed said Belleman will “bark at people” on occasion and it can feel intimidating, but it’s not accurate to say that he’s yelling at people. The male employee said when Belleman is upset at work he can talk in an “elevated and direct” manner, but that it hasn’t been directed at him.

“He said that during his one-on-one meetings with Belleman, sometimes it is ‘like he is upset with [him] and other times it is like they are going to go get beers’,” the investigation report reads. “In the end [redacted] feels Belleman is similar with everyone, he speaks his mind in the moment. [redacted] cannot say Belleman’s conduct is different on the basis of gender, and Belleman has many more female direct reports, but the times he has observed Belleman being elevated and direct it is with women.”

The investigation found no violations of any laws or city policies and the city doesn’t face any imminent legal jeopardy from Dziedzic’s reports

“Even if some conduct described could be perceived as sex or gender-based, it does not, in our view, meet the threshold of being severe or pervasive, nor has Dziedzic described a hostile work environment or identified any materially adverse employment action,” the report reads.

Some of the comments made by city employees reveal “a lack of trust and comfort within Belleman’s leadership team” the report reads and it is recommended that the city provide tools for Belleman like leadership training and counsel him on Belleman on professional
communication.