PORTLAND – The U.S. Postal Service in Maine gave bonuses to managers after they were disciplined for sexual harassment, a report released Wednesday said.

The report by the agency’s inspector general said managers did not properly investigate complaints and kept poor records of sexual harassment training.

The new report is the product of a yearlong investigation into the Postal Service’s Maine district. It found that strong policies to prevent sexual harassment were in place, but managers sometimes failed to implement them.

Of 16 formal and informal sexual harassment complaints filed by Maine employees from 1996 to last year, the district investigated only eight of them thoroughly, the report found.

The inspector general’s investigation was conducted at the request of Sen. Olympia Snowe after it was reported that the Postal Service in southern Maine had been sued at least five times for sexual harassment.

Those cases produced jury awards and settlements of more than $2.6 million between 1998 and last year. Victims described behaviors ranging from a male employee exposing himself to men telling women they were ugly and giving them derisive nicknames.

The Maine cases were among the reasons the National Organization for Women labeled the Postal Service “a merchant of shame” for its record on sexual harassment and discrimination.

On Wednesday, the Postal Service seized on the 33-page report as proof the agency takes sexual harassment prevention seriously.

“It says the Postal Service had adequate procedures in place,” said Gerry Kreinkamp, a Postal Service spokesman in Washington.

“The important point is that we’ve taken action to improve things, so this doesn’t happen again.”

Kreinkamp pointed out that the Maine settlements and jury awards were for behavior that took place years ago. The lawsuits described harassing behavior from 1984 to the late 1990s.

Jim Bergeron, whose wife, Pam, received an undisclosed settlement from the Postal Service in October 2000, said he did not believe the postal service could adequately investigate itself.

“There’s no credibility in that. They have to cover up,” he said.

The report also recommended that every employee in Maine receive sexual harassment training and that records be updated.

The inspector general said that harassment should be grounds to disqualify personnel from receiving performance bonuses.