The state Human Rights Department has a settlement in a case against Ramsey County, but is suing a parochial school in the northwest metro. Human Rights officials say a Ramsey County supervisor sexually assaulted a seasonal lifeguard in 2013 when a beach was closed, then drove her in a county vehicle to purchase an emergency contraceptive. The lifeguard reported the assault to two other supervisors, neither took action, and the following summer the county rehired the lifeguard and assigned her to work with the supervisor who had assaulted her the prior year. Under the agreement, Ramsey County officials have agreed to upgrade policies to ensure that reports of sex harassment are addressed promptly and to provide sex harassment prevention training to all lifeguard supervisors.
And the Human Rights Department is suing West Lutheran High School in Plymouth, alleging officials failed to protect a ninth-grader who was sexually harassed and assaulted multiple times by other students. The suit claims the school retaliated against the victim by preventing her from returning for her tenth-grade year. Officials at West Lutheran High School weren’t immediately reachable for comment.