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Curtis Horn, owner of Tyce Transportation, hired the woman as a school bus aide in 2010. For the next two years, authorities say, Horn subjected the woman to offensive sexual remarks and propositions, including one incident in which he told her she would "look good in his bed," the Attorney General said.
Horn then locked the door to his office with the woman inside, grabbed her and began to kiss her. Horn kept her locked in the office until someone approached, according to an inquiry by an administrative law judge. The woman, who worked as an aide on a route for special needs children, saw her hours cut when she complained to a co-worker about her treatment.
The woman, who was not identified, later filed a complaint with the state Division of Civil Rights. A little more than a week after she filed the complaint, on Nov. 1, 2012, she was fired.
“There simply is no room in the workplace – or any other place – for sexual harassment. Everyone has a right to do his or her job free of unwanted sexual innuendo, inappropriate touching and unwelcome sexual advances,” said Grewal. “Business owners, managers and supervisors should understand that there can be significant financial and reputational consequences for tolerating workplace harassment.”
In addition to paying the ex-employee a total of $258,568 to compensate for her emotional distress and lost wages, Horn also has been ordered to pay the state a total of $37,870. That amount covers a statutory penalty, as well as the state’s investigative costs, for a total of more than $296,000.
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