The Hartford Housing Authority has agreed to pay $50,000 to a former employee who had claimed she was sexually harassed.
The agency said the cash settlement was not an admission of wrongdoing.
“We admit no violation of … any laws as she alleged in her complaint,” board Chairman Mark Ojakian said. “This is the most cost effective way to deal with the situation.”
Holly Baron, once the authority’s assistant comptroller, had claimed that the authority’s now-ousted executive director sexually harassed her and that she lost a promotion because she resisted his advances.
Baron filed a complaint with the state’s Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities against Lancelot Gordon Jr.
Gordon, through his attorney, labeled the allegations as “untrue.”
“He has denied any wrongdoing from the beginning,” attorney Craig Dickinson said Thursday. “But it’s up to the housing authority and its insurers to make a business decision.”
Baron filed the complaint with the CHRO in December 2005, two months after her job was eliminated and she left the authority.
By agreeing to the settlement, she waives any future rights to bring lawsuits or make legal claims against the authority.
