On Feb. 27, 2020, Kennedy Hunt, P.C. filed suit in the St. Francois County Circuit Court in the State of Missouri against St. Francois County under the Missouri Human Rights Act. The lawsuit alleges Jerrod Mahurin, the prosecuting attorney and our client’s supervisor, repeatedly harassed our client based on her sex and terminated her when she filed a charge with the Missouri Commission on Human Rights.
Throughout her entire employment, our client was subjected to a magnitude of unwanted sexual comments by Mr. Mahurin. Mr. Mahurin sexually harassed our client through comments, jokes, lewd insinuations and advances. Things worsened every time she told Mr. Mahurin to stop or that she would not participate in his jokes and lewd comments. Our client received worse treatment than other female coworkers that allowed Mr. Mahurin’s conduct toward them and did not rebuff his advances. Another manager, Ms. Henson, began making work environment unbearable for our client, doing things that made it increasingly difficult for our client to perform her job duties. Our client reported the harassment from Mahurin at the end of March 2018. She was demoted and moved out of her office the following day. Our client was terminated three months later.
By subjecting our client to such a hostile work environment, the County of St. Francois violated the Missouri Human Rights Act. The County was aware of the actions of Mr. Mahurin but did nothing to remedy the ongoing harassment and misconduct. Instead, once the new prosecutor in St. Francois County was appointed, our client was offered her job back and was told she should not have been fired. But the job was promised on the condition she opt not to sue St. Francois County. Our client denied. Our client is seeking damages, including lost wages and benefits, reinstatement, front wages, garden variety emotional distress damages, compensatory damages, punitive damages, pre- and post- judgment interest and attorney’s fees and costs.
Tony Messenger, columnist for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, recently published an article on the lawsuit. Vice writer Jelisa Castrodale wrote about this as well. For further information, please contact attorney MaryAnne Quill at 314-880-4463 or mquill@tkennedylaw.com. If you or someone you know has been a victim of sexual harassment in the workplace, our skilled attorneys at Kennedy Hunt, P.C. may be able to help you. Fill out a questionnaire so we can understand your claim.