Posted on 01/08/2005 7:45:20 PM PST by NormsRevenge
SACRAMENTO (AP) - An aide to a California assemblywoman who claimed her boss discussed intimate details of her sex life and solicited comments about her low-cut clothing has received a $118,000 settlement from the state.
Erika Weaver-Taylor, 37, of San Jose, received the money after making the charges last year against Assemblywoman Rebecca Cohn, D-Saratoga, according to documents released Friday.
Cohn called the settlement by the Assembly Rules Committee ridiculous and said she "wouldn't have given a dime" to her former spokeswoman. Cohn said she had done nothing improper and pointed to Weaver-Taylor's unwillingness to pursue a lawsuit as proof her complaint lacked merit.
Neither side admitted wrongdoing in the settlement.
Weaver-Taylor, who is barred by the settlement from taking another Assembly job, expressed her own dissatisfaction with the outcome.
"I think in the big picture it's sad that the mighty continue to protect the mighty - and the whistleblowers just end up out of breath," she said.
Weaver-Taylor was placed on administrative leave last year after saying Cohn created a hostile work environment that included helping the assemblywoman change outfits during a photo shoot and asking another staffer to hold her undergarments.
Weaver-Taylor alleged that Cohn's table talk about her sex life made her so upset she "excused herself from the table and went to the bathroom where she threw up."
The payment is the fourth settlement since 1998 involving legislative staff members.
Two years ago, the Assembly paid $540,000 to settle a lawsuit by a staffer who claimed she was harassed for breast feeding her baby at work. In 2002, the Assembly paid $140,000 to settle a staff member's sexual harassment complaint. In 1998, the Senate paid $117,000 to a staffer who claimed retaliation after she rebuffed a senator's advances.
I keep hoping, but no one in power is of a mind to harrass me over there.
Maybe ya oughta try wearing a blue dress sometime. ;-)
I keep hoping, but no one in power is of a mind to harrass me over there.
It all depends on what you consider harrassment. Looking at you out of the corner of one's eye should be good for at least 40 grand.
Looks to me that suing the CA Assembly pays well. Maybe I should move.
Why is it that when a man talks dirty to a woman, it's sexual harrassment...
But when a woman talks dirty to a man, it $4.99 a minute?
Mark
Why can't we all just get along?
I think there was some truth in the aide's allegations, and it was probably collaborated, or the state would not have paid.
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