What do you do when you're harassed by your boss, but your boss is the "sole" commissioner of the county? Where else can you turn?

For a Georgia woman, filing a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and then a lawsuit was the only answer. She says she tried contacting Human Resources and other employees about the sexual harassment, but no one would help her.

The woman, who reportedly worked for the county for 29 years, filed a lawsuit in federal court in late May against the commissioner and the county government. She says the commissioner sexually harassed her, forced her to have oral sex and viewed pornography on her work computer.

In addition, the woman says the county's policies surrounding employee complaints relating to sexual harassment or discrimination were not adequate. Worse, the director of Human Resources and the county manager apparently knew of the harassment but did nothing to curtail it, according to the lawsuit.

The employee is also reportedly contending that the structure of the county government needs improvement. Specifically, she says having the sole commissioner model of government is inadequate because there is no mechanism for people to file complaints to anyone but the sole commissioner. Since her complaints were about him, she was put in a bind. She requests that the county make changes to its policies.

According to the woman's attorney, she is also seeking monetary damages, but how much is not clear. The parties apparently participated in settlement negotiations, but they were not successful.

Source: Dalton Daily Citizen, "Suit claims Murray County failed to protect employee," Mark Millican, 5 June 2011