University to Pay More Than $ 1 Million to Settle Sexual Harassment Lawsuit
Alabama State University will pay $ 1.1 million to settle a sexual harassment lawsuit that was filed by three former employees of the college. The three former employees claimed in their lawsuit that two administrators at Alabama State University, including a chief executive officer and an executive director subjected them to sexually harassing practices in the workplace.
The men made several inappropriate and sexually charged comments against the women, and promoted a hostile work environment. One of the defendants, who happens to be black, routinely used the N- word. The defendant also used the N- word to refer to the seven-year-old son of one of the plaintiffs. In one case, a defendant asked one of the plaintiffs, to dance for him, and also inappropriately touched her.
The plaintiffs also said that in spite of making several complaints to the Alabama State University human resources department, no action was taken against the two men. Employees were also threatened against participating in an investigation by the Equal Employment Commission against one of the defendants on the basis of the complaints against him.
Now, Alabama State University has agreed to pay $ 1.1 million to settle the sexual harassment lawsuit. Last year, the three plaintiffs also received a $ 1 million jury verdict in their favor. The verdict is likely to raise a lot of questions in that state, especially considering that the Alabama State University is largely funded by public money. The fact that these allegations of sexual harassment were made over a period of time, involved multiple claimants, and that these allegations were ignored by university officials is also likely to be spotlighted.
