The State of Iowa has agreed to pay nearly a million dollars to settle a lawsuit filed by an Iowa Department of Human Services social worker who says her complaints about a hostile work environment weren’t taken seriously.
Jennifer Jackson says her female supervisor created a hostile work environment by making vulgar comments and grabbing the breasts of female employees. The State Appeal Board approved the settlement. State Treasurer Michael Fitzgerald, a member of the board, cast a frustrated yes.
“It’s something you’d think every second grader would know, how to behave, but we continually get these cases where we’re paying out a half million to a million dollars or more,” Fitzgerald said. “I just have this frustration that we’re not getting through to these employees.”
State Auditor Rob Sand, another member of the board, voted no because the state isn’t seeking any kind of restitution from the supervisor at fault. The Appeals Board approved a separate, $25,000 settlement with an employee who says two women in his Polk County District Court office inappropriately touched him and made repeated sexual comments.