Democratic 2nd Congressional District candidate Harry Teague says a lawsuit accusing him of ignoring a sexual harassment complaint filed by an employee against a top manager at one of his companies has been resolved.
Teague made the announcement during a Sunday debate against his opponent, Republican Ed Tinsley.
“You were sued for a sexual harassment case by an employee of yours, and yet it remains unresolved,” Tinsley said during the debate.
Teague responded by saying he wanted to be “real clear about that.”
“When I heard about that instance in my company, I was concerned,” Teague said. “I was real concerned because we don’t allow that type of behavior in my company. And that has been taken care of, and it was settled out of court…”
The lawsuit against Teague, his son, the top manager in question — James Chenault — and two of Teague’s companies alleged that Chenault, the operations manager for ABC Rental Tool Company and Teaco Energy Services, gave Carolina Cueto gifts, use of a car, raises and promotions and also invited her to his home for dinner on several occasions. When she refused to attend, Chenault would become angry and wouldn’t speak with her at work for days, according to the complaint, which was filed in December.
Cueto felt like she had to attend because she is a single mother of two children and wanted to avoid the possibility of losing her job and being subjected to the hostile work environment created when she refused his invitations, the lawsuit stated.
She also alleged she was subjected to “sexual jokes, comments and inquiries, sexually oriented physical contact, sexual gestures and sexually oriented practical jokes” at work by Chenault and other male employees. She left the job after being demoted from office manager in March 2007.
Cueto claimed she complained to Teague and his son
In an interview today, Teague’s campaign manager, Frank Costanzo, said, as of last week, “the matter had been settled out of court.” He said Teague and “the individuals operating the company” were all dropped from the lawsuit “because there was no basis to it,” and he said the lawsuit was resolved “in an equitable manner for the individuals involved, and the paperwork was signed and notarized Friday.”
He said the settlement documents “should appear this week,” but did not release specifics about the settlement.