WA Corrections pays $600K settlement in sexual harassment lawsuit
Jan 27, 2023, 7:22 AM | Updated: 9:24 am
Two Sammamish students allege their school principal is denying them the ability to form an interfaith club. (File Photo from Pexels)
(File Photo from Pexels)
Washington’s Corrections Department has agreed to pay $600,000 dollars to settle a sexual harassment lawsuit brought by a former student intern.
Attorneys representing Dr. Tressa Grummer say when she worked at the Monroe Correctional Complex while completing her doctoral program, she was repeatedly sexually harassed by Dr. Robert Carsrud.
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Grummer says Carsrud would stare at her, tell her she would have more success counseling inmates if she wore shorter skirts and lower-cut tops, and told her he needed to spend more one-on-one time with her.
She initially filed a sexual harassment complaint, but the Department of Corrections failed to act on her report for months and then took no action against Carsrud.
Grummer received her doctorate in counseling psychology and now works at Joint Base Lewis-McChord.
“My hope is this settlement will send a message to DOC to take future harassment reports seriously,” said Grummer. “I also hope it will reassure women and others experiencing discriminatory workplace treatment that even in your darkest of moments when you are feeling silenced, you still always have a voice.”
The case was set to go to federal trial in Seattle earlier this month.
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