LIHU‘E — The County of Kaua‘i has disclosed two settlements with former county workers who brought up sexual discrimination lawsuits against the county. A third and more recent case that still remains confidential was reportedly settled at a much smaller
LIHU‘E — The County of Kaua‘i has disclosed two settlements with former county workers who brought up sexual discrimination lawsuits against the county. A third and more recent case that still remains confidential was reportedly settled at a much smaller amount.
Former county worker Kristan Hirakawa recently settled a $450,000 sexual discrimination lawsuit against the county, stemming from a 2007 claim.
In another high-profile case, the county agreed in March to pay a $250,000 settlement to Jane Doe, who had been named earlier in the same case as Margaret Sueoka.
Despite the large sum paid in these two settlements, the Office of the County Attorney has released numbers showing that since 2007 half of the sexual discrimination charges against the county were dismissed without a court case.
In Fiscal Year 2007-08, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission issued three dismissals and notices of rights. Only the Hirakawa case ended up in a settlement. One of the cases was closed on basis for no cause, and without an ensuing court case. The third case is also listed as “no ensuing court case.”
In Fiscal Year 2008-09, the EEOC issued two dismissals and notices of right. In one of those cases there’s no ensuing court case. In the other, the case was filed in court, but ended up being dismissed for a procedural defect on the claimant’s process.
In that year a third and final EEOC sexual discrimination claim was settled at $250,000. Jane Doe, or Sueoka, was the claimant on that settlement.
In Fiscal Year 2009-10, only one claim was filed with the EEOC, but the details of that claim are still confidential, pending an opinion from the Office of Information Practices.
In the current fiscal year, one claim has been filed with the EEOC and this claim is still pending.
County Administrative Assistant Gary Heu said the administration does have policies in place for prevention and enforcement of any type of harassment, but “unfortunately” those policies have not resulted in the elimination of harassment claims.
“We are fully committed to better educating our employees at all levels about these policies and to enforcing them vigorously if they appear to have been broken” Heu said.
• Léo Azambuja, staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 252) or lazambuja@kauaipubco.com.
