County settles sexual harassment case
Pays $75,000 to avoid lawsuit
By Dwight Otwell Editor

A sexual harassment and gender discrimination suit against Cherokee County has been settled out of court.

The county has reportedly agreed to pay former county employee Melissa A. McHan, 30, $75,000 to settle the suit, which was filed in August 2006 with the United States District Court in Bryson City.

McHan claimed in the suit that from April 12 2002 through early 2005 she was continuously harassed by sexual comments and physically by sexual touching by Cherokee County Building Inspector Silas Allen.

McHan also named current County Commissioner Dana Jones and former commissioners Ernest Jones and Barbara Vicknair in the suit, claiming that they, after being informed of the harassment, failed to take action.

McHan alleged that the county's act of paying individuals of different genders different wages for performing duties that require equal skill, effort and responsibility and which are performed under similar circumstances violates the Equal Pay Act.

Cherokee County Attorney Scott Lindsay said that the county's insurance company handled the case. The settlement isn't an admission of guilt, he said. Any settlement paper will state that neither party is sure of the outcome of the suit.

"I understand that it got to the point where it was as cheap to settle as to spend a week or two in court to try it," Lindsay said.

Commissioner Dana Jones said he wanted the matter to go to court because he felt Allen was innocent.

"Sometimes in these cases, you have to take the advice of the insurance company and the attorney," Jones said.

He said he knows of no disciplinary action that will be taken against Allen because of the claims against him.

"I don't think he did anything to warrant (discipline)," he said.

Former Commissioner Vicknair said the insurance company's attorney looked at the issue and accessed that it is cheaper to settle than to go to court.

"It doesn't mean that the person accused is guilty," she said. "It would cost us much more (than $75,000) to have a jury trial."

Vicknair said she didn't know anything about McHan's claims until the suit was filed.

Allen didn't return a phone call.

McHan's attorney, Karen M. Patten, when asked to comment on the suit settlement, said, "No comment".

Patten previously said that McHan wanted to be reinstated to her former position and receive compensatory and punitive damages. A jury would have to determine a dollar figure on damages, Patten said.

In May 2005 the county began an internal investigation involving Allen and two female employees of the building department.

The women involved were McHan and Christine Harris, who moved to the county manager's office for a time. She eventually resigned. McHan filed sexual harassment charges with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) against Cherokee County.

In her charge of discrimination to the EEOC HcHan said that on February 28, 2005 she was constructively discharged from her position of office manager in the building department. During her employment, she was sexually harassed, subjected to a hostile work environment and denied equal wages in her position as manager, she claimed.

The EEOC on January 31, 2006 concluded that evidence of record supports McHan's allegations that she was subjected to sexual harassment and that she complained but no corrective action was taken. She was denied the title and pay due her for the duties she performed, the EEOC said.

"Therefore, there is reasonable cause to believe that violation of Title VII had occurred with respect to Charging Party's allegations of sexual harassment, denial of appropriate job title and pay and constructive discharge due to the sexually hostile work environment," the EEOC wrote.

EEOC concluded on May 12, 2006 that a settlement with the county could not be worked out. The EEOC stated that because of conciliation failure, McHan has the right to sue.

McHan was hired in April 2002 as a permit technician. Between then and March 2003, Allen made daily comments about her buttocks and breasts, the suit against the Allen and the county commissioners states.

Beginning in January 2004 McHan performed all the office manager duties done by the previous office manager, the suit states. She did this until her discharge on or about February 28, 2005 but she never received a promotion or a raise, the suit states.

"When it became apparent that no department head, no commissioner nor the county manager would take any steps to protect her from Allen's harassment and sexual demands, (McHan) was forced to resign her position," the suit states.

She charged that the defendant engaged in intentional gender discrimination in violation of Title VII by constructively discharging her from her employment. She also stated that Cherokee County engaged in unlawful retaliation in violation of Title VII by subjecting her to conditions so severe that no reasonable individual could be expected to endure them - thereby constructively terminating her employment.