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County faces harassment lawsuit By CHRIS BRISTOL PORTLAND -- Jackson County has been sued by two women who claim they were victims of sexual harassment and discrimination while employed with the county's Roads and Parks department. In separate complaints filed last week in U.S. District Court, plaintiffs Sharon Millard and Scharie Bostrom allege the county violated their civil rights because supervisors failed to take adequate steps to stop harassment and instead retaliated against them when they complained. Millard seeks more than $550,000 in damages, mainly for mental and emotional stress. Bostrom seeks $435,000. Millard alleges that her problems began in August 1996 when a co-worker demanded "sexual physical conduct" from her and promised to sabotage her efforts to get a full-time job with the county unless she complied. After requesting transfer a year later, Millard alleges the co-worker again threatened her job for sex and then filed a bogus sexual harassment claim against her to get her fired for telling on him. Another co-worker spread rumors and lies about her, the lawsuit says. As the result of an investigation into the matter, Millard was placed on six months' probation, according to the lawsuit. The co-worker was suspended without pay for one month. Millard alleges the harassment resumed in February 1998, even after she transferred again to another department, and that her standing with supervisor Ron Young continued to degenerate, culminating in a poor performance review in July. She then resigned. "As a last act of retaliation against plaintiff," the suit says, "defendant refused to accept plaintiff's letter of resignation and sent plaintiff a letter informing her that she had been terminated." The lawsuit does not name co-defendants. However, it specifically mentions Young and Roads and Parks director Joe Strahl as supervisors who failed to protect Millard. According to her complaint, Bostrom alleges she was assigned difficult and dangerous tasks in retaliation for her testimony on Millard's behalf to the state Bureau of Labor and Industries. Bostrom also contends she was passed over for promotions given to less qualified or less senior males, was denied equal pay for equal work, was subjected to abusive and degrading comments based on her gender and that she and other female co-workers were routinely denied bathroom breaks or access to a portable toilet as required by law. The lawsuit says she was fired in April after a dispute with management over time off for "psychological stress." Both plaintiffs filed discrimination complaints with the state Bureau of Labor and Industries and the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Both agencies issued "right-to-sue" letters in May. It was unclear why the lawsuits were filed in Portland rather than in Medford. The plaintiffs' attorneys, David Owens and Christopher Rycewicz, both practice in Portland. Neither attorney returned phone calls Tuesday. Acting county counsel Steve Rinkle said he was unable to comment because the county had not been served with lawsuit papers yet. Today's Business Index Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA