Sexual Harassment Lawsuit Filed Against Sheriffs Office Seeking $8 Million
A sexual harassment lawsuit was filed by four women for a total of $8 million, claiming the office has a culture of sexual harassment in which even ranking officers engage in physical and verbal harassment. Fulton Sheriff Myron Freeman, the Fulton County Georgia Sheriff’s Office and others are named in the lawsuit. The lawsuit claims the women were subjected to actual touching, lewdness and forced inappropriate contact, all items that would constitute a hostile work environment.
In the sexual harassment lawsuit one of the women, a former executive secretary, alleges she tolerated off-color jokes during the three years she worked for the sheriff until a lieutenant made an obscene reference about her performing a sexual act. The lawsuit alleges that most of the harassment took place inside Fulton County’s jail. The former secretary said "working at the Sheriff’s Office is like Sodom and Gomorrah."
In Illinois a new law that went into affect last year allows for also filing a claim of sexual harassment in state court after first filing with the Illinois Department of Human Rights.
Miriam Taylor, one of the four women who filed the lawsuit, said she worked for the county for 17 years before quitting due to the sexual harassment. She said this is the worst sexual harassment I’ve seen in county government and that the Sheriff's office abused their authority.
