LAWTON – The City of Lawton spent nearly a quarter of a million dollars investigating former City Attorney Frank Jensen, plus more than $100,000 to settle half a dozen tort claims that were filed against Jensen, Mayor Stan Booker and the City Council.
The council recently voted to settle claims from six current or former Lawton municipal employees – all of them women who worked in the city attorney’s office. The women alleged Jensen subjected them to sexual harassment, gender discrimination, and a hostile work environment, and that city officials were aware of the issues but allowed them to continue.
To date, expenses related to the investigation of complaints lodged against Jensen have totaled $230,782 “and will have been paid from the General Fund,” Tiffany Vrska, the city’s community relations director, said Tuesday.
The plaintiffs against Jensen were Melissa Jo Clements and Megan Loftis, both of whom previously worked as legal assistants in Jensen’s office; Kristin Huntley, a senior clerical assistant; Kelea Fisher, a lawyer in the city attorney’s office; Denise Ezell, who previously worked as a legal secretary in the city attorney’s Office until she became deputy city clerk; and Julie Snodgrass.
Each filed a tort claim in excess of $10,000 against Jensen, the city of Lawton, the mayor and members of the city council.
In addition, the women also filed a charge of discrimination with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, a federal agency.
Although it’s unclear, it is believed that the settlement of the tort claims included dismissal of the discrimination complaint. When asked Monday for clarification on that matter, a spokesperson for Leonard & Associates of Oklahoma City, the law firm that represented the women in their tort claims against the City of Lawton, told the Ledger, “We cannot comment on any past present, or future cases.”
“In regards to the allegations of inappropriate behavior on the part of former City Attorney Frank Jensen, the six claimants and the City of Lawton have resolved the matter,” the mayor and city council said in a joint statement.
The city council voted unanimously to settle the claims for $110,000. The payments include $30,000 to Fisher and her attorneys; $25,000 to Loftis and her attorneys; $17,500 each to Clements and Huntley and their attorneys; and $10,000 each to Ezell and Snodgrass and their attorneys.
The council’s motion to approve the payments stipulated that the payments would be split equally: each of the six women would get half of her settlement payment and their lawyers would receive the other half.
The $110,000 settlement will be placed on the city’s ad valorem tax rolls.
Lawton City Council policy provides that damage claims of less than $400 that are approved are paid from the budget of the responsible department, Vrska said.
Claims of $400 or more that are approved for payment “are paid by confession of judgment, i.e., filing of a ‘friendly suit’ and placement on the sinking fund (property tax rolls),” she said.
“In this instance, as soon as the claimants have signed the appropriate documents, six ‘friendly suits’ will be filed and the process will begin to effectuate payment,” she continued. The city’s legal department “is waiting to receive the documents back from the claimants.”
Lawton’s current ad valorem tax rate for its sinking fund is 9.29 mills, or $9.29 per $1,000 of assessed valuation, according to records of the Comanche County Assessor’s Office.
6 WOMEN ALLEGED HARASSMENT, BIAS, GENDER DISCRIMINATION
Clements, Loftis, Hunt- ley, Fisher and Ezell filed their claims last September. The sixth claim, initiated by Snodgrass, was filed last November.
In their complaints the women said they were treat- ed less favorably than male staff and repeatedly were subjected to unwelcome and offensive gender-based comments and treatment by Jensen.
The women’s claims included charges of sexual harassment, gender discrimination, the creation of a sexually or gender-based hostile work environment, and retaliation by Lawton city attorney Frank Jensen. The claims also state that Jensen constantly referred to female state members as ‘bitch,’ ‘f--- ing bitch and little bitch.”
During his tenure as city attorney, at least 15 female legal assistants “have left the office due, at least in part, to Jensen’s behavior,” Fisher alleged.
The city council and upper-level management “were aware of” his “unlawful harassment and discrimination, ... [y]et nothing was done,” Fisher claimed.
Copies of the women’s tort claims painted an ugly picture of the former city attorney.
“Jensen considered physical appearance of female applications when making hiring decisions,” Clements said in her claim. “He directed staff to look at female applicant’s Facebook pages and other social media before scheduling legal assistant interviews. He would then look at photographs and only schedule interviews with those applicants that physically met with his approval.”
Huntley and Fisher and Loftis, who left the city attorney’s office and transferred to Human Resources in July 2019, made similar claims.
Jensen, the group said, hired “young attractive females with no legal experience over older females with numerous years of legal experience.”
Fisher, an African American woman, also claimed racial bias. She said Jensen made racist comments, including using the “n word” in her presence, often referring to her as ‘Ebony’ and even referring to her as “black a--.”
After she was promoted to deputy city attorney, Fisher said Jensen told her he could not give her any more than a 5% pay increase because of budget constraints. How- ever, Fisher said Jensen told other staff members that “he limited Ms. Fisher’s pay to ensure funds were available to hire another attorney for the prosecutor’s office”
Fisher alleged that Jensen gave “a promised double-step (pay) increase to another attorney, a white male.” And Fisher said another male attorney, who was white, received a double-step pay increase that exceeded 5% when he was transferred to a lateral position in July 2018.
Jensen also “frequently commented on the appearance of female legal assistants to include comments about...their weight and clothing choices,” Fisher claimed.
She said Jensen required her to go with him and male staff attorneys to restaurants such as Hooters or Twin Peaks, restaurants which feature waitresses in revealing attire such as bikini tops and shorts. At these restaurants, Fisher said Jensen “would make lewd comments about the female wait staff and discuss how he wanted to ‘recruit’ them, saying he was ‘sure’ they would be qualified. She said Jensen also compared the breast sizes of two female bartenders.
Huntley said Jensen also made flirtatious and paternalistic comments and gestures to female staff, bought personal gifts for them, drove by their homes unannounced and “constantly sent them text messages after business hours.”
“He also constantly be- rated and demeaned female staff who exhibited authoritative or leadership qualities,” Huntley said. She said males on the staff were not treated in the same fashion.
DESPITE COMPLAINTS, THEN-CITY ATTORNEY RECEIVED FULL PAY
Huntley said Jensen’s behavior became so offensive that she sought to move to the city’s financial services division. Still, she said, the behavior continued.
All four women said lawsuits had been previously filed against Jensen and the City of Lawton, and that past employees had raised harassment and discrimination complaints, but no action was taken against Jensen.
In fact, “instead of imposing any discipline against Jensen, the City rewarded Jensen by entering into a ‘Resignation Agreement’ with him,” Fisher, Loftis, Clements, Ezell and Huntley all noted in their tort claims.
The agreement provided that Jensen continued to receive full pay, including base pay of almost $142,000 from the date of his resignation on 14 August 2019 until his official retirement on 20 March 2020, after 29 years of service.