Former Grant County employee alleges sexual harassment
EPHRATA - A former Grant County employee claims her former boss sexually harassed her for roughly three years.
Noelle D. Rutty filed a claim concerning the Grant County Youth Services Center and Juvenile Court alleging gender discrimination, sexual harassment and retaliation starting in 2007.
Rutty started working at the Grant County juvenile detention center in 2005 and was promoted to legal secretary assistant by Administrator Warren Swanson starting in 2007, according to the claim. She alleges Swanson began to ask about her personal life shortly after she started in the new position.
Swanson allegedly started sending text messages to Rutty from the time she left work to when she returned, according to the claim. The messages started out as harmless, but reportedly escalated, including messages sent when he was drinking or observing pornography. The administrator reportedly sent text messages to Rutty while he was at an adult entertainment show at a gentleman's club in Reno.
Swanson reportedly sent at least 2,350 text messages to Rutty between December 2008 and March 2010, according to the claim.
Rutty also claims Swanson invited her to his home, explaining his back door was unlocked and he liked visitors, according to the claim. He reportedly warned her to keep the invitation a secret.
The former employee claimed if she rejected Swanson's advances or ignored messages, he would call her into his office to demand an explanation, according to the claim. When the county was having financial difficulty toward the end of 2009, Swanson allegedly told her layoffs were not based on seniority, but on which employees displeased him.
A co-worker reportedly met with the county's Human Resources department about an unrelated issue and Swanson's relationship with Rutty was mentioned, according to the claim. Rutty was allegedly called to the office, where she was confronted with the allegations and Rutty reportedly admitted to the actions. The county reportedly placed Swanson on three months of paid administrative leave during the investigation.
After the investigation started, two co-workers reportedly started harassing Rutty, making snide comments and accessing court documents to get the paternity of Rutty's children and telling people, according to the claim. She reportedly met with Human Resources Director Tammie Hechler to discuss her frustration about the treatment.
Rutty claims Hechler attempted to discourage her from filing an equal employment opportunity commission claim or litigation, according to documents. Rutty claims Hechler offered her unemployment if she chose to resign.
After Rutty resigned in April 2010, she reportedly did not receive unemployment, according to the claim.
Swanson denied several of the allegations during a Washington Rural Counties Insurance Program investigation. He told the investigator he had a professional relationship with Rutty at work and a social relationship out of work.
"Mr. Swanson denied he had ever attempted to have a romantic relationship with Ms. Rutty," according to the report. "Mr. Swanson told me of an occasion during the spring of last year when Ms. Rutty suggested he give her a call at night for a 'one-nighter.' Mr. Swanson told me he turned her down."
Swanson also stated Rutty never told him the texts were a problem, and when he asked her, she reportedly denied them being inappropriate or causing a problem, according to the report. He reportedly admitted to sending her text messages from the gentleman's club.
Rutty stated she was afraid of being punished if she told Swanson to stop sending the text messages.
Grant County Commissioner Carolann Swartz said she was not able to comment on the claim because of the pending litigation.
Swanson still serves as the Grant County Youth Services Center and Juvenile Court administrator, and declined to comment on the claim for damages.