Employers can be found liable for their workers' behavior, particularly if they do nothing to prevent it. A board of education in Tennessee is set to pay a former teacher $100,000 in a settlement relating to harassment and retaliation.

The woman, who filed her lawsuit against the board and a former school board chairman in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee, was reportedly hired by the board as an alternative education teacher in 2003. She says the former chairman tried to date her and retaliated against her when she resisted his advances.

According to the 39-year-old woman, who now works as a school health coordinator, the man would call her at home and ask her out. When she said no, he retaliated against her and created a hostile work environment. For example, he allegedly spread rumors about her and even went to the superintendent and asked to have her fired.

According to Knoxnews.com, the former teacher says the man tried to prevent her from getting tenure at the school after he found out she was in a relationship with someone else. He also apparently drove by her house and berated her at other schools where she worked.

The woman filed her lawsuit after the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission determined she had been sexually harassed and that the board retaliated against her by denying her tenure. (She was ultimately awarded tenure in January 2009.) For an unknown reason, she dismissed the former chairman early on after filing the lawsuit.

In a letter to the former teacher last month, the superintendent apologized to her for the emotional stress she endured as a result of the situation.

Source: Knoxnews.com, "100K settlement reached in school sexual harassment case," Natalie Neysa Alund, July 26, 2011