Nearly three of every thousand Colorado state government agency workers have filed a sexual harassment claim at work in the past five years, a Rocky Mountain PBS investigation found.
Sexual harassment allegations rocked the General Assembly this year and led it to oust one of its own members, Rep. Steve Lebsock, for the first time since 1915. But workplace sexual harassment spreads far beyond the statehouse, into the 17 principal agencies that employ more than 24,000 Coloradans.
An RMPBS analysis of complaints compiled by the Colorado Department of Personnel and Administration shows several state agencies with multiple harassment complaints filed in the past five years. The most came from the Colorado Department of Transportation, which had double the rate of complaints of any other state agency. CDOT, with nearly 3,000 employees, received 21 of the 62 complaints handled by the state between 2013 and the end of 2017. All but one involved a male accused of harassing a female.
“Anything higher than zero is a concern,” said Susan Rafferty, chief human resource officer for CDOT. “We want this to be a place where we have zero sexual harassment occurring.”
Rafferty said an investigation determined more than half of the CDOT complaints were unfounded. However, she said it is possible the staff’s significant gender disparity – 82 percent men and 18 percent women – played a role in some of the complaints.
“I want to make sure that every woman and man feels comfortable to come to work and isn’t subjected to anything that makes them uncomfortable,” said Rafferty, attributing some of the complaints to lack of awareness. “It’s not easy to talk about.”
Since the national #MeToo movement gained momentum in fall 2017, Rafferty said the state revised its online sexual harassment training program and required employees to review it.
Before the #MeToo movement, CDOT launched the Women at CDOT initiative when administrators discovered the department had a lower percentage of female staff members than most other transportation departments around the country.
The department hopes to shift the culture and recruit more women like Cindy Deering, who works on a special unit that clears debris from the highway.
“I wish we’d see more women,” said Deering, who has worked at CDOT for 14 years. “As long as you have the perseverance ... you are capable of doing anything you want to do.”
Rafferty said the program’s goal is to increase the number of female employees to at least meet the 22.5 percent national average for state transportation agencies.
CDOT is hiring more entry-level positions, expanding its internship program and revising the job application process to make it more gender-friendly.
Previously, an application might have said an employee must be capable of lifting 60 to 70 pounds, but now an application might describe that weight by equating it to the size of a child. “(Something) more relatable,” Rafferty said.
Rafferty said she hopes the Women at CDOT program will help reduce the number of sexual harassment complaints within the agency.
“I think one of the big things is just starting the conversation – it’s awkward,” she said. “What can we do to reduce barriers? I think any type of research would show that the most high-performing organizations have representation from men and women and people of all different backgrounds, and I think that’s something that we are really striving for.”
The Department of Natural Resources, with nearly 1,500 employees, had eight complaints over the five-year span, the second highest for any department. The analysis excluded public colleges and universities, the judicial branch, and the state Legislature. The Department of Corrections, which employs nearly 6,000 workers, had six complaints in the same span.
Despite video and #MeToo, victim still feels vulnerable
When Hannah Frederick experienced what she described as repeated sexual harassment at work, she had to decide whether to report it.
Studies show most people choose not to report. But Frederick had one thing most people don’t: Her accused harasser was caught on camera.
“I felt like it would have been a disservice to women to not bring the video forth and say, ‘Look, this is really happening,’” she said.
Frederick’s attorney, Sean McCurdy, said he was shocked when he saw the footage.
“Even though I see and hear of these things regularly, very rarely does a client have such direct evidence of the discrimination occurring,” he said.
The video shows Frederick’s supervisor spanking her as the plumber’s apprentice worked on her hands and knees to turn off a water valve, then pushing her onto her back on the ground and standing over her.
Frederick was laid off from work at Murphy Company Mechanical Contractors and Engineers 39 days after requesting a new assignment away from her supervisor, according to a complaint filed in the United States District Court in Colorado. Frederick said she felt her termination was retaliation for her complaint.
“I think that what they were thinking was that they would pacify me for a period of time – put me in the shop and just make it look like, ‘Oh! We just ran out of things for you to do,’” Frederick said.
Frederick’s attorney said he reported the case to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which he said recently opted out of joining the case, but granted Frederick the right to sue in Colorado.
From 2013 through the end of 2017, the EEOC received 837 reports of sexual harassment in Colorado, but a recent EEOC report found three out of four people who said they experienced harassment at work never talked to a supervisor about the issue.
Frederick said she might not have come forward if she didn’t have a video recording of the incident.
In her lawsuit, Frederick alleges the incident caught on camera was one of a handful of inappropriate behaviors she suffered at the hands of her supervisor, Michael Najera.
Najera told Rocky Mountain PBS that he was suspended for 10 days and required to take additional sexual harassment training.
“The way I am and the way she was, I thought she was one of the guys,” Najera told Rocky Mountain PBS. “I made a mistake ... I regret what I did.”
An attorney for Murphy Company Mechanical Contractors and Engineers declined to talk about specifics related to the claims, but in an email, the company acknowledged that “an incident” took place and that it disciplined the person responsible for the inappropriate behavior.
“Murphy supports and enforces a discrimination- and harassment-free work environment for all,” said Amy Miletich, whose firm is representing the company. “As this matter is currently in litigation, we do not believe it is appropriate to comment on the specifics of the case. We are confident that the complete story and truth will be disclosed through the litigation.”
In a recent court filing, however, the company disputed that Frederick’s layoff was retaliation.
“When Murphy experienced a temporary decline in its business, typical in the construction industry, it laid off nearly one hundred employees including Ms. Frederick,” the company said in a motion to dismiss Frederick’s lawsuit.
Frederick said she hopes to shed light on issues related to harassment, but fears her lawsuit will negatively affect her career. “I love what I do,” she said. “I like the people that I work with most of the time ... I don’t want them to feel like they have to walk on eggshells to be around me.”
To watch
#MeTooColorado will air at 7 p.m. Thursday on Rocky Mountain PBS. For more information, visit
rmpbs.org/insight/MeTooColorado
or contact lorigliha@rmpbs.org.
