Human rights agency accuses Brainerd company of failing to stop supervisor's harassment

The Minnesota Department of Human Rights is suing a Brainerd printing company for failing to stop a supervisor’s alleged sexual harassment of two employees.

The department filed the lawsuit in district court this week against Sheridan, formerly known as Bang Printing.

The lawsuit claims the company failed to stop a supervisor from using his position of power to repeatedly sexually harass and assault two employees starting in 2020, including unwelcome sexual advances, unwanted touching and offensive comments.

The company promoted the supervisor, even after one of the employees filed a complaint. Only after the Department of Human Rights informed Sheridan that both employees had filed discrimination charges and the agency would be investigating, did the company launch its investigation and fire the supervisor.

State Human Rights Commissioner Rebecca Lucero said companies need to have policies to prevent sexual harassment, enforce them and train employees to follow them.

“All over, you see that failure in this case from top to bottom,” she said. “And that meant that for months and months, even after complaints, that this was allowed to persist that this company allowed the sexual harassment to continue.”

A Sheridan spokesperson did not return a request for comment.

The lawsuit asks the court to require Sheridan to ensure a safe work environment and pay the two employees for damages.

Sexual harassment in the workplace remains pervasive across the state, Lucero said. In recent years, the Human Rights Department reached settlements with a McDonald’s franchisee, a charter school, and the University of Minnesota.

The goal of the enforcement cases is to change workplace culture, Lucero said.

“At the end of the day, there cannot be a meaningful end to sexual harassment when those who are in positions of power, when those who are in positions to really be part of creating that culture, deliberately do nothing,” she said.