Legislature paid $75K to fired staff member who complained of sexual harassment, discrimination
State taxpayers in 2015 paid $75,000 to a former lawmaker’s aide who complained of sexual harassment and discrimination and filed a complaint alleging she was wrongfully fired from her job, records show.
Jana Harris first filed a complaint against former Sen. Spencer Coggs, D-Milwaukee, in 2009 — one of four complaints of sexual harassment filed in the state Legislature in the last 10 years, according to its chief clerks.
One other complaint was brought in the state Senate in 2011, while two complaints were filed in the state Assembly, in 2014 and 2017, Senate Chief Clerk Jeff Renk and Assembly Chief Clerk Patrick Fuller said in response to requests by the Wisconsin State Journal.
Neither provided details about the complaints nor released any documents related to them aside from the six-page 2015 settlement agreement between the Legislature and Harris, who went by Jana Williams at the time. Renk said he was releasing the settlement agreement because it was reached through the Department of Workforce Development’s Equal Rights Division complaint process, which is public, although the initial complaint was filed with his office. Harris filed the complaint in 2011 after she was fired from her job in Coggs’ office.
Read more: http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/govt-and-politics/legislature-paid-k-to-fired-staff-member-who-complained-of/article_0fc2aa27-9249-5813-ac26-d6b9e7262b90.html