Hopefully by now, readers in Sacramento know that sexual harassment in the workplace is not acceptable. That is one area of employment law that people should really be familiar with. However, it's just an unfortunate fact that people continue to experience unwelcome sexual conduct when they are on the job. An especially egregious example of this comes from Detroit.

There, the Detroit Public Schools District recently reached a settlement with a former superintendent. She had claimed that the district's then-board president inappropriately touched himself during a meeting the two had to discuss the superintendent's employment contract. She said she suffered negative health consequences long after the incident because she was so shocked and traumatized by his alleged bad behavior.

To settle the sexual harassment claim, the school district will pay the woman $650,000. She, in turn, will drop her suits against the district and against the former board president.

The school district issued a statement saying the settlement is not an admission of liability, but rather a "compromise of a disputed claim."

The board president allegedly fondled himself for approximately 20 minutes while he was meeting with the former superintendent. In a letter to other board members, the former president admitted to "inappropriate conduct with a professional," but did not name the former superintendent explicitly. He is now on a two-year probationary period after he pleaded guilty to a felony charge of misconduct in office. Since he agreed to plead guilty to that offense, prosecutors dropped a misdemeanor charge of obscene conduct was dropped.

Further details about the incident that prompted the former superintendent's lawsuit are not likely to be disclosed, since all parties had to sign a confidentiality agreement.

Clearly, not every case of sexual harassment in the workplace is quite this bad. However, even conduct of a lesser magnitude might still be unacceptable. If you have ever been made to feel uncomfortable at work because of unwelcome sexual conduct, you may want to speak to an attorney about the issue.

Source: The Detroit News, "Detroit Public Schools to pay $650K to ex-superintendent in fondling case," Jennifer Chambers, Oct. 13, 2011