Ex-state manager fined for having employees do his homework

SPRINGFIELD - A former Illinois Department of Employment Security manager was fined for directing his co-workers to do his college homework on taxpayer time, state reports shows.

An April 3 report by Executive Inspector General Ricardo Meza said 63-year-old Clyde Redfield, who resigned from his $71,000 job in 2012 after the allegations surfaced, instructed several subordinates to help him during their shifts with classroom assignments from Benedictine University in Lisle, where he was a part-time student from 2008 to 2010.

Redfield's attorney did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

Among the pieces of homework employees told the inspector general that Redfield asked them to work on was editing a multimedia presentation on 1936 Olympic gold medalist Jesse Owens. Redfield also asked for tutoring with math work.

Redfield's subordinates worried they'd be demoted or could lose their jobs if they refused comply with his requests for homework assistance, the report said.

Also according to the report, officials found that Redfield, a 37-year employee of the department, had used his state email account "to send or receive approximately 400 emails that clearly appeared to be related to his schoolwork."

Department officials said Redfield initially denied the allegations during the investigation, but the inspector general ultimately found Redfield's subordinates' statements "more credible than his bald denials."

After finding him in violation of the state's ethics act and the department's standard procedures, state's Executive Ethics Commission issued Redfield a fine of $2,500.

Redfield, of Harvey, had been previously cited for doing personal work on state time and falsifying timekeeping records on the job, and was forced to attend counseling by the department in 2008.