FRANKFORT — Kentucky lawmakers have finished their first-ever training on sexual harassment.
More than 100 lawmakers heard a lecture from Aime McFerren, a Louisville attorney with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. She shared strategies for identifying sexual harassment, and the benefits of preventing it.
“Sex harassment, retaliation, it’s prevalent still," she says. "It’s costly in a monetary sense, but also in a non-monetary sense. I’m sure you can understand that when a workplace is involved in an investigation where someone has alleged discrimination or retaliation it can be very upsetting to the workplace.”
This has become a larger issue in the General Assembly after revelations that former state Rep. John Arnold allegedly harassed female Statehouse employees.
State Rep. Will Coursey has also been accused of retaliating against a female state employee who spoke out about his alleged treatment of a female intern.
Both men have denied the charges.
Since those allegations were made last year, some have questioned the workplace culture in the state Capitol.
