By Alex Wood, Journal
Inquirer
November 17, 2000
A Glastonbury woman who
charged in a federal lawsuit that she was sexually harassed while working at
Electric Boat’s former nuclear operation has won $300,000 from the
company, which did not appeal the court judgment in her favor.
The woman, Judith Dobrich,
56, won a $750,000 jury verdict against EB, a division of General Dynamics
Corp., in a May trial in U.S. District Court in Waterbury.
In a decision issued in
July, Senior judge Gerard L.
Goettel reduced the award to $300,000 because of a cap in federal law.
But, in the same decision,
Goettel rejected motions by EB to overturn the jury verdict, saying there was
sufficient evidence for the jury to conclude that the company responded
inadequately to harassment of Dobrich by her male co-workers.
Dobrich’s lawyer,
Robert B. Muchinsky of Hartford, said EB’s deadline for filing an appeal
has passed, making the $300,000 judgment final. Court records show that the
judge also ordered EB to pay Muchinsky an additional $137,823 in legal fees.
An EB spokesman had no
immediate comment.
But Dobrich, who has made
clear throughout the lawsuit that she considers it a cause rather than a mere
personal grievance, said that she is “thrilled” that the outcome of
her case may benefit others who experience sexual harassment.
“It’s god that
it’s out there & that it can be used as a reference point for other
women or men who are in the same situation as far as gender
discrimination,” she said.
She also expressed relief
that she is free of the emotional pressure of the lawsuit.
“Each day I’m
further from the case, I feel a little better,” she said.
Dobrich worked for EB from
June 1994 to January 1996 as a laborer on the Windsor site, where the e company
was decommissioning a prototype nuclear reactor dating from the 1950’s
for the Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory. She was the sole woman working in a
trade job on the site.
She alleged a series of
harassing acts by male co-workers, including lewd drawings & displays in
the workplace, use of bad language & insulting remarks, & three
instances of unwanted touching by one co-worker.
She argued that the
harassment included an incident in which her wrist was injured when another
worker kicked a chair at her. In a separate incident, she said, her chair was
slashed while she was away from her job in what she believed was an attempt to
terrorize her.
EB argued that its
managers responded appropriately when Dobrich complained about misconduct by
co-workers. The company’s lawyers stressed during the trial that the
worker involved in the touching incidents was given a final written waning,
meaning that one more incident could have led to his firing.
They also contended that
Dobrich didn’t report a number of the incidents.
The jury’s award
included $100,000 in punitive damages, which federal law says can be awarded
when an employer engages in discrimination “ with malice or reckless
indifference” to a person’s rights.
But Goettel threw out part
of the award in his July decision, saying he couldn’t find support for
such a conclusion in the trial record.
The judge also called the
jury’s award of $650,000 in compensatory damages “far too
high”, saying he would have reduced the award even if the $300,000 cap in
federal law didn’t require him to do so.