A federal jury today sided with a former U.S. Mint worker who said her bosses subjected her to an insufferable atmosphere of obscene jokes and harassment.
Jurors awarded April Garcia Kaas $95,000, which they reduced by $15,000 because they found she could have taken steps to mitigate the abuse.
Garcia Kaas also will get yet-to-be determined compensation for back pay, lost future pay and attorney’s fees.
While her lawyers called it a victory, Garcia Kaas sobbed as she said the award was only a small step toward solving problems caused by abusive managers at the coin factory.
“They treat you even worse than you would treat an animal,” she said.
A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s office, which represented the mint, called it a difficult case and said his office respected the jury’s findings.
In a written statement, David Lebryk, acting director of the U.S. Mint, said the events alleged in the case happened five years ago and that the mint has a variety of programs to ensure an appropriate work environment.
During closing arguments, assistant U.S. Attorney Terry Fox had urged jurors to find against Garcia Kaas, painting her as a problem employee who had a personality problem with her boss.
“The only thing we have here are personality conflicts,” Fox said.
However, Garcia Kaas’ lawyers said her boss, Louis “Bud” Woodard, sent her obscene e-mails, nude comics and routinely yelled in her face so violently he spit on her. On one occasion, he hit her, said Marisa Williams, who represented Garcia Kaas.
Trying to say that she brought it on herself was ridiculous, Williams said.
Garcia Kaas left the mint in 2000, after the incident in which she said her boss struck her as she tried to make a phone call.
While agreeing that Garcia Kaas worked in a sexually hostile place, jurors decided she did not prove several other claims including retaliation, that she was treated differently because of her gender or because she is Hispanic, or that she was effectively fired.
Staff writer Alicia Caldwell can be reached at 303-820-1930 or at acaldwell@denverpost.com.
