St. Cloud YMCA settles sexual harassment lawsuit
The St. Cloud Area YMCA will pay $140,000 and provide other relief to settle a sexual harassment lawsuit, according to U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).
According to the civil lawsuit filed by the EEOC last year, the manager of the St. Cloud Area Family YMCA made demeaning remarks about women, propositioned an employee, and made sexual comments about the employees' bodies.
One of the teenage employees reported the incidents to her supervisor and director, but the director refused to address the harassment and instead accused the employee of gossiping, the lawsuit states. As a result, one of the employees resigned.
In a statement to WCCO, Greg Gack, the executive director of the St. Cloud Area Family YMCA wrote: "We take the safety and well-being of our employees very seriously. This is a personnel matter and led to the termination of the employee in November 2022, following an investigation. We intentionally work to create a healthy and positive work environment."
Under the consent decree, the $140,000 will be compensated to three former female employees who were harassed.
The decree also requires the YMCA to revise its harassment and discrimination policies, periodically survey its employees to monitor for any further sexual harassment and report future complaints of such harassment to the EEOC.
