An investigation by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission apparently revealed that the director of general services in Chattanooga sexually harassed and retaliated against employees. As a result, the man is retiring immediately.

At least two female employees claim they endured the harassment and retaliation as far back as 2008. After they complained about the harassment, one of them was allegedly fired, while the other was transferred to a different department, according to News Channel 9's website.

The director, who was first employed by the city in 2005, reportedly turned in his notice last week and will retire immediately. He apparently plans to sue his two accusers for defamation of character. They are likely to receive a settlement from the city.

According to News Channel 9, there were 11,717 complaints of workplace sexual harassment filed with the EEOC last year. At least a third of those led to payment to victims, with business paying over $50 million to settle such claims.

The UTC chief diversity officer sums it up nicely to the news station's website by saying, "Individuals have a right to work and they have a right to work in an environment that's free of harassment [and] hostility."

Sadly, it doesn't always work out that way. He believes that most sexual harassment cases in the workplace actually are not reported. That's mainly because employees fear retaliation, which as this situation demonstrates, is a real possibility.

The city of Chattanooga is apparently now requiring that all employees take a course with the hope that it will prevent a similar situation from occurring in the future.

Source: News Channel 9, "Paul Page retires amidst sexual harassment investigation," John Pless, Oct. 4, 2011