Detectives file $9M sexual harassment claim against KCSO
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SEATTLE -- A multi-million dollar legal claim describes a toxic work environment for three female detectives who say they were sexually harassed at the King County sheriff's office.
The detectives, who work in the sexual assault unit, say they've been taunted and belittled by supervising officers for years.
Their attorney said the ringleader of the harassment is Sgt. Tony Provenzo.
"(Provenzo) would talk about the breasts of female detectives, the rear-ends of female detectives. He would tell people he had a nickname for his penis," said attorney Julie Kays.
The women filed claims last month seeking a combined $9 million in damages.
Among the allegations, Det. Belinda Ferguson claims Provenzo discussed the size of her breasts. Another woman said Provenzo "openly discussed the size of her bottom." The women also say complaints brought threats of retaliation.
"Anything that occurs in the workplace that could be perceived as inappropriate or disrespectful or something that causes people to be uncomfortable is obviously not okay," said Sheriff Steve Strachan.
Strachan said the claims cover a period of years long before he took office. He also said steps are being taken to address the problem, but he wouldn't offer specifics.
"If you're asking me, have we taken appropriate action to ensure the workplace is respectful? The answer is yes," Strachan said.
The sexual harassment claim also names Dave Jutilla and Paul Malhun as participants in the abuse. The victims lawyers say the very women who investigate some of the worst sex crimes in the country suffered similar abuse every day at work.
"There was ample notice, and ample information for higher ups in the sheriff's department to make the right call, and that they failed to do that," Kays said.
The men singled out in the claim are not speaking with reporters because the case is pending. The county has until October 21 to respond to the claim or it could be filed as a lawsuit.
The detectives, who work in the sexual assault unit, say they've been taunted and belittled by supervising officers for years.
Their attorney said the ringleader of the harassment is Sgt. Tony Provenzo.
"(Provenzo) would talk about the breasts of female detectives, the rear-ends of female detectives. He would tell people he had a nickname for his penis," said attorney Julie Kays.
The women filed claims last month seeking a combined $9 million in damages.
Among the allegations, Det. Belinda Ferguson claims Provenzo discussed the size of her breasts. Another woman said Provenzo "openly discussed the size of her bottom." The women also say complaints brought threats of retaliation.
"Anything that occurs in the workplace that could be perceived as inappropriate or disrespectful or something that causes people to be uncomfortable is obviously not okay," said Sheriff Steve Strachan.
Strachan said the claims cover a period of years long before he took office. He also said steps are being taken to address the problem, but he wouldn't offer specifics.
"If you're asking me, have we taken appropriate action to ensure the workplace is respectful? The answer is yes," Strachan said.
The sexual harassment claim also names Dave Jutilla and Paul Malhun as participants in the abuse. The victims lawyers say the very women who investigate some of the worst sex crimes in the country suffered similar abuse every day at work.
"There was ample notice, and ample information for higher ups in the sheriff's department to make the right call, and that they failed to do that," Kays said.
The men singled out in the claim are not speaking with reporters because the case is pending. The county has until October 21 to respond to the claim or it could be filed as a lawsuit.
I am willing to believe that these women were harassed and probably for a long time, but $9 million dollars worth????? A request that big seems to be way out of line for mental anguish and no physical abuse. There should be a real shake up in the administration that allowed this to go on for so long and that did nothing, but lets get real as far as the monetary amounts. Lets punish those who caused it and go easy on how much these women and attorneys walk away with.
 @LongBeachBum Had the claim been for $9 thousand dollars rather than 9 million dollars would we have heard about it on the news and would the necessary attention been brought to bare to force King County to make sure this kind of harassment doesn't happen again?
Unfortunately in this day and age threats of big money payouts is often the only way to achieve necessary changes. Â
Lots of people are thinking my comments are unfounded so let's be clear.
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I do NOT think what these guys did are appropriate. Â They shouldn't be employed if they are harassing people.
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But the girls should NOT get millions for comments made towards them. Â Its damaging to women in the work place who want to be treated equally and it opens the door for any body who wants a quick payout.
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The men should be fired, the women should be placed into a less stressful position (since they evidently can't handle stress because they feel that stress means they should get millions of dollars, this point cannot be intelligently argued since thats what they are saying : "I want millions of dollars since I was made to endure a stressful work environment.") but NO ONE should get paid MILLIONS of TAX DOLLARS because of "harassing, stressful comments".
I'm knowing, not thinking, that your comments are inappropriate. So I will be clear.Right off the bat, in this comment, you call full grown women "girls," for crying out loud. Your ongoing litany of name-calling is extremely derogatory and discriminatory, i.e. crybabies, incompetent, unreliable, little broads who can't even protect themselves, pathetic, sissy, lazy, entitled little girl, too sensitive, want handouts. TJM - your opinions are obtuse, considering that you are a big part of the same problem we are speaking about here. You continue to harp on the fact that it's "just words" that were spoken to these women. Hell, where I work there is joking around. It comes with the territory to relieve tension in an otherwise pretty hellish occupation. When it gets a little too hurtful or personal, I'm perfectly capable of sternly telling the guy (or gal) who mispoke that it was an overstep and, the guys in this unit are gentlemen enough to hear me and not repeat same again. Simple inappropriate comments are treated just like that in non-hostile environments and they are respected, if the "offender" is not an unethical lout. This is not a case of wittle hurt feelings. If you had any knowledge of what it's like to be a woman in a hostile work environment, what it's like to work in law enforcement, what our laws are meant to protect us from, you may offer a tad more credence to your idiotic bloviations. Have you bothered to read the complaints? If you have, your comprehension skills are quite under-utilized here. First off, your favorite rant is TAX PAYER'S MONEY IN THE MILLIONS!!! If you had read the black print on the complaints and in the articles written rather than doing your best to read between the lines according to your own backwards perceptions, you'd have learned that their intent isn't to get loads of money, but to give the KCSO heirarchy a wake up call. Nine million bucks is a worthy wake up call, in my estimation. They had knowledge of this for a long time. Although you admonished these "little over-sensitive crybabies" that they should go up-line with complaints, you fail to have noticed that they did. For years. The end result is this complaint. And, by the way, it is, at this time, just a complaint. The lawsuit hasn't been filed and, therefore, no one is making any money off of any settlement at this time. When it comes to this timeline, you may want to advise yourself through some simple education of how these suits come about. These women are hoping that the problem will be corrected and they don't have to file suit. For now, I suggest that maybe you shoot too quickly?Yes, women want to be treated equally in the workplace and we have every right to do protect ourselves from any kind of harassment. All of us do, as harassment is, indeed, against the law. If you could shut up and read, you'd have caught on to the fact that these women were yelled at, spat at, threatened with job related retaliatory punishments were they to complain. Yeah, and their body parts were repeatedly spoken about lewdly. All of this happened in front of their cohorts at the SAU. Some of their cohorts are men who experienced absolutely none of that treatment firsthand. Please note, though, that a few of them have signed their names to the complaints as witnesses. They know what they were seeing. They didn't like it, either. But they weren't the victims. So advising harassed women to MAN UP is ridiculous when we aren't seeing men being treated the same as women in the first place. As for your lack of knowledge about what we as a society did before lawsuits when our widdle feelings were hurt . . . this is simple to the least enlightened simpleton, isn't it? We picked up our guns and shot the bastard, right? Vigilante justice. Your money or your life. You, being an apparent materialistic jackass, would choose your money. Some of us, however, care more about our lives and work environments than you do. That's a lifestyle call. Choose money, gunplay, or a decent life for people who work hard. We know where your value system goes. You've broadcast it incessantly. No, I'm not commissioned; however, I'm extremely proud to be a member of this department because most of our members are very repectful and respectible people. We work hard, we care about the citizens of King County. We care about each other. And I haven't met a single female cop here that I'm not proud to call my sister. I'm absolutely in awe when I see the way they conduct their work life and watch the way they operate around some of the sleeze they have to deal with.
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As you admitted when asked if your ego was threatened by a woman calling a man on his harassing behavior by saying "Yup," I have opinions about you that aren't too favorable. But my values restrain me from attacking as you have attacked these three courageous and strong women. I will say that I believe you are a very weak man, albeit not necessarily physically. I'm talking about integrity here. No man of integrity would be so threatened by a strong woman.
Forgive my lack of paragraphing here. They were there when I submitted the comment. I will admit, I'm no technological wunderkind.
 @TJM How can you be so ignorant as to not understand the that harassment in the work place and "a stressful work environment are two ENTIRELY different things?
I see nothing in this article that suggest in any way that these detectives can't and aren't handling the stresses of the job. Â What that aren't choosing to "handle" is harassment and threats of retaliation as an acceptable workplace environment.
 @TJM calling them girls is a bit sexist.
 @two loons Um...thats what they are buddy.
Assuming that asking 9 million and getting 9 million is wrong. The fact that the suit is STARTING at 9 million says they want to be taken seriously. I know some of these women and all of the facts are not here, as usual.
There's no way anyone is walking away with 3 mil a piece. This may in fact just create the change they need, since it will most likely go to mediation anyways.
The big number almost makes it sound like a joke, but it will force KCSO to dig deep and do the right thing.
Nobody should have to work in that kind of environment. I did, didn't sue, but busted a lip. He didn't sue either..what was he going to do? Call 911 and then I show up? He was removed anyways, but it actually boiled down to protecting myself physically. That tends to make me angry as I had to do that a few times as a child in order to live.
What freaking century is this again?
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What happened to good ol respect for everyone in the work place? no matter if you are a man or a woman, Â everyone is there to do a job, I don't believe the women being harassed expect to get that amount of money, it seems to be more of a wake-up call to the problems and the people causing them, maybe a better way to solve this issue is to have money deducted from the harassers pay to attend a class on how to act professional in a position of authority, do the job you're getting paid for and keep those kinds of remarks to yourself, they have no place in the job you are suppose to be doing.
They probably didn't believe there was even any point in complaining when Sue Rahr was sheriff. That's embarrassingly ironic.
I feel offended and harassed everyday whenever I read comments on KOMO website. I am going to sue KOMO for $10 million dollars. If any of you wants it, we'll go class action on them and ask for $100 Million!!
 @todaysnews Derp
Time to clean the WHOLE house...
Hard to believe that these ladies couldn't get any of their supervisors or city manager to take action. Yep, guess the only thing they could have done was to ask for $3Million each. I wonder if one of them is my ex?
 @Magic 8 Ball They are pathetic, immature, insecure cry babies who want a handout.
 @TJM  So if you were forced to interact daily with a man at your work who constantly commented on your body and genitals, and after reporting it and trying to get it resolved nothing was done and you still had to deal with him every day, what exactly would YOU do?
 @TJM What attack on your personal life are you referring to?Â
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I have to assume that you flagged my comment as offensive and that the system admin deleted the comment since it is no longer available. Â That proves the intended point that there are comments that are not and should not be accepted as simply a part of a conversation that you must ignore and tolerate.
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So which is it? Â Should they "SUCK IT UP and move on like an ADULT." Â as you stated in a previous comment or "they shouldn't suck it up and move on"?
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Your reaction to my comment shows the hypocritical nature of your comments about the detectives "hurt feelings" and the comments you expect them to endure at work.  My apologies to your wife.  The comment was only intended to elicit your reaction, proving that comments can be hurtful and should not be accepted as normal everyday workplace conversation.  The more serious of the charges in this claim is that retaliation was threatened when were the issue to be taken "up the chain of command".
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Had they not associated a high dollar number with the claim we would not be seeing this story and King County wouldn't have come under the scrutiny that hopefully bring the necessary changes in order for this kind of harassment no to be tolerated.
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 @My_Thoughts  @TJM My wife is not fat nor ugly and the attack on my personal life just shows how immature and invalid your views are.
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And, no, they shouldn't suck it up and move on, but they SHOULDNT GET MILLIONS OF DOLLARS EITHER !
 @TJM So this kind of comment would be acceptable work place conversation for any number of years and you should just suck it up and move on?
 @TJM No. That is not how lawsuits generally work. They will probably settle for a different amount, and the state will (hopefully) cave to the new public attention they are now getting because of the enormous lawsuit to fix their broken chain of command that allows people to face abuse at work.
 @TJM And when they did nothing, and for years this person was crossing the line with you, ignoring your demands to stop and the chain of command did nothing about it? What then.
 @Jolly You honestly think these women should get 3 million dollars each because they didn't like what someone SAID to them? Â
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Honestly, you think that money that could be earmarked for a child's education should go to these women instead because they didn't like words that were said to them?
 @Jolly Then I report it up the chain of command.
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I wouldn't ask for an obscene hand out of money I am not owed nor deserve nor earned because of it.
 @TJM And if he consistently went too far, and you consistently told him each time that he needed to stop, and he didn't? What then?
 @Jolly I'd laugh it off and give them Hell right back, like we did with good natured ribbing in the Navy.  If it went too far, like if they said something regarding my wife, I sternly told them it was too far.
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My feelings and whether or not they got hurt or not, does not equate to million dollar lawsuits.
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People are too sensitive. Â What did people do when they were harassed before lawsuits were prevalent? Â
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In 15 years will what this guy say to these crybabies matter? Â NO.Â
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SUCK IT UP and move on like an ADULT.
 @TJM Looking in a mirror as you type? Does you male ego feel threatened when a woman calls men on abuse?
 @JLS1950 yup
 @TJM They are someone employed by my county government who wants to be able to work in an environment free of ongoing harassment.
In our litigious society high dollar claims and suits have proven to be the most effective methods of getting the attention necessary to bring about change.Â
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 @TJM You need to human up and come live in the new century, sir. I have been groped at work and have had sexual comments made to me all of my working life. I will always handle that by first telling the person to stop, and if they do not, I take it to a supervisor. I once got a phone call at home at 11pm from a pervert that happened to be my supervisor. I was lucky that his supervisor handled this correctly and fired him. I've never had to sue anyone to make it stop, but I would if it came to that. It's time for the men who do this to grow up.
 @TJM The idea that we shouldn't hold officers of the law up to a higher standard than criminals is pretty frightening/telling.
 @Jolly So says a citizen of a state that refused to lock up a man who killed an innocent Native American because he refused to stop 5 seconds after a cop told him to, then emptied out 7 rounds into him.
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THIS IS THE LONG AND SHORT OF IT.
Because you're feelings are hurt you should NOT GET PAID MILLIONS OF DOLLARS.
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Period. Â Point. Â Blank.
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These women do NOT DESERVE 9 million dollars of money that can go into BETTER POLICING, BETTER TRAINING, BETTER SCHOOLS, BETTER ROADS.
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Think of it THAT way. Â A school can't get new computers to help our children's education because the state had to pay 9 million dollars to these crybabies because someone offended them.
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My God. Â MY GOD. Â Just the fact that ANYONE thinks they should get this obscene amount of money because someone said inappropriate comments to them are enabling a pattern of behavior that supports that you do not have to work hard for what you have, you just have to complain to a judge.
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 @TJM  @Jolly There you go with the all caps again. I bet you talk over people with whom you disagree face to face and think you're winning by being louder.
 @TJM Also, the story says these women were going through this for years. As in, they didn't just come to work one day, hear a rude comment and call the news and their lawyer. They, like most people, probably aren't that keen on suing the state for taxpayer money, or else they probably would have jumped on that train years ago. But after watching your employer violate federal law and personally paying the price for it, having to deal with someone consistently crossing the line with you and being totally unable to do anything about it, at some point you will absolutely look to the last-resort system we have in place to respond to the organization's unwillingness to obey the law.Â
 @TJM They aren't getting money because their feelings are hurt. They are getting money because the company they worked for maintained a work environment in which they faced consistant abuse from people who were supposed to be peers. We have laws protecting us in the work place from harassment, the law was repeatedly violated, and now the organization that has been breaking those laws will face the repercussions of their disregard for those laws. Why would you be pissed at the women trying to straighten out the department, and not at the department whose fault it really is for not following the law?
 @TJM Maybe this is suggestive that policing should be a FEMALE-dominated profession?
 @JLS1950  @TJM no- it is suggesting that men and women treat each other with respect in the work place.
 @JLS1950  @TJM With the myriad of complex situations the police face each gender can have an advantage.
In containing a riot I want the largest, strongest persons possible behind the riot shields on the police lines. Â In our species those tend to be male.
In an instance where children have be traumatized females may be somewhat better able to calm their fears.
In some sort of a shootout I want the best shooters .  I'm not aware that gender lends any advantage in marksmanship.
Both genders are necessary.
@JLS1950Â "
When asked what her mother does for a living, 5-year-old Madison Watson replies, "Mommy puts people in jail and she kicks their butts."
That's a pretty accurate description.
Madison's mom, Special Victims' Unit Detective Melissa Ottaviano, 29, is the first and only female SWAT member and sniper on the Portsmouth Police Department." Â Way to go mom!
From 2009
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 @JLS1950 Hadn't consider it before.  I wonder how many female snipers there are in the SWAT teams across our nation?  There must be at least a few.
 @TJM And attitudes just like your's are the exact reason lawsuits like these are necessary.
 @My_Thoughts You think that my comment and my attitude is justified in restitution to the sum of 9 million dollars?
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Money that hard working Americans like me give to make our government operate to serve us? Â Money that military members, like me, pay to give lazy people who sue for millions of dollars that they haven't earned?
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I bet you more people agree with that 9 million dollars for inappropriate comments is a product of an entitled little girl who can't handle an idiots comments.
 @TJM  @My_Thoughts Broads with "wittle hurt feelings"? I hope you are retired and no one has to listen to your mouth in a work environment.
 @My_Thoughts  @TJM Don't forget the many instances of sexual assault against enlisted women.
 @TJM  @My_Thoughts You presume that men have the right to say sexual things to any woman. I can handle myself and I always address the person directly and clearly letting them know it must stop. If they ignore that, they deserve to get fired and if a supervisor ignores it, then I'll do what I must.
 @Tattooed_Angel  @TJM It's not illegal.  You can't be arrested for it.  Its not a criminal offense.
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PERIOD.
@TJM Are you that ignorant or are you just stupid?
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http://www.expertlaw.com/library/employment/sexual_harassment.html
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It is against state and federal law to sexually harass someone in the workplace and it is illegal to do so. That makes it a crime.
 @Tattooed_Angel  @TJM Sexual harassment isn't a crime...sexual assault is, but sexual harassment isn't a crime.
@TJM These women have one of the worst jobs there is as a police officer. Day in and day out they deal with victims of sexual assault and I can't even imagine the s**t that they have seen or had to investigate.
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Doing that is hard enough but then add in some immature POS supervisors  who have been harassing these women for YEARS. Have you ever been sexually harassed before? To the point where it leaves you feeling demoralized, despondent, disgusted, maybe even a little afraid. It is torturous when you see the person who harassess you because you wonder what's it going to be this time?
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Sexual harassment is against the law for a reason. To prevent a hostile work environment. This went on for YEARS and nothing was done to stop it. Those women did what they had to do to bring justice to this situation. Those women should NOT have been subjected to that kind of treatment and behavior, period.
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You want to blame someone for the settlement that these women will most likely be awarded? Blame the higher ups at the Sheriff's Dept who failed to do their jobs and correct this situation.
 @TJM You wanting to brand these detectives as "INCOMPETENT and UNRELIABILITY" and have them fired for their claims with out a shred of evidence concerning their competence or reliability isn't retaliation?  OK.
And caps lock SO proves your points.
 @My_Thoughts Pathetic.  "Pattern of harassment."
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What the guys did was wrong and horrible. Â They should be fired.
But the cry babies who filed a lawsuit over their "wittle hurt feelings" should be FIRED for being INCOMPETENT and UNRELIABILITY to be able to do their jobs in a high stress environment.Tell me you feel safe with these little broads protecting you when they can't even protect themselves.Â
 @TJM When they are part of an ongoing pattern of harassment, Yes.
 @TJM Those very same soldiers are fighting to preserve our society where no one need suffer, not the occasional "hurtful comment", but years of harassment.
 @My_Thoughts "SUFFER"?!  You think COMMENTS are SUFFERING?
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Feminists are pathetic cry babies. Â You want equal rights? Â Then accept the equal rights ACROSS THE BOARD. Â
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Women fought for years to be treated the same as men, well congrats, you got it. Â MAN UP and shut up and do your job.
 @TJM If the high dollar amount get's King County's to institute changes so that other women employed by the county don't have to suffer this type of ongoing harassment and sets a precedent that other government departments will note and make similar changes then Yes the 9 million dollars, of which part of is my taxes, is justified. Â
 @My_Thoughts Front line soldiers do not get even 1 percent of that sum.  They get shot at and people try to kill them on a daily basis.
But you think that words justify getting 9 million dollars?If you think this sissy of a cop deserves 9 million dollars for "hurtful comments" when front line soldiers, low ranking ones, don't even make 1,000 a month, then you are unpatriotic.Â