In Anniston City, Alabama the Councilman David Dawson is being charged with sexual harassment from last year’s incident while he was working for a pathology company. Council Dawson is named in the suit along with the Regional Medicine Center and Tim Jones – a RMC employee.
The Anniston Star reports David Dawson is the only one being accused of committing sexual harassment, but the suit names the other two entities as being negligent in their work and duties to prevent sexual harassment on the job. Last week an Ashville resident, Kay Dodd, filed the lawsuit in the Calhoun County District Court.
Kay Dodd alleges that Dawson was the reason for a hostile work environment while he was employed at Anniston Pathology. She claims the hostile environment came to a climax when Dawson's sexual harassment turned into sexual assault last August.
Gregory Harp, Dodd's attorney, claims that Dodd did everything in her power to make the harassment stop. She made several attempts to get the situation reconciled by going to the principals. The result of her efforts, she claims, ended in even more harassment from Dawson.
Shortly after her complaints, Dawson actually resigned from his position, citing a disagreement between him and his employer of 30 years. When Dawson was contacted last Monday concerning the lawsuit, he claimed no knowledge of the suit.
Councilman Dawson did admit to knowing Ms. Dodd, but commented that he didn't threaten anyone's job, let alone Ms. Dodd's. Dawson refused to answer any other question about the pending lawsuit. He claims to never have been contacted about any sexual harassment claims and then pulled away to consult with his lawyer.
The partial owner of Anniston Pathology, Dr. Talbot, as well as the Chairman of RMC, Anthony Humphries, both declined to make a comment regarding the lawsuit. Humphries would only admit that he knew there was an ongoing lawsuit, but refused to comment further.
The lawsuit claims that Dawson was routinely making sexually charged jokes, discusses his sexual abilities in the bedroom, and to even hand out Christmas and holiday cards depicting sexual acts to Ms. Dodd and several other employees. The lawsuit goes on to claim that Dawson would threaten her job and express his abilities to control her job duties. One threat toward her job came during a company Christmas party. Dodd wanted to leave the Christmas function, but was forced to stay to protect her job.
In a more sexually charged incident on August 5, 2011, Dawson is accused of straddling Dodd’s chair and began licking and kissing her face. He then rubbed the crotch area of his pants against Ms. Dodd. The court filings are saying that Dawson has an ongoing reputation of harassing the females that worked for him and around him. The lawsuit goes onto claim that the RMC employee Tim Jones helped retaliate and intimidate Ms. Dodd.
The lawsuit claims that Tim Jones would harass Ms. Dodd about the sexual assault that was ongoing by David Dawson. Dodd is demanding compensation and punitive damages for the assault she suffered. She's not asking for a specific dollar amount and leaves that up to the juror’s best judgment during the trial.