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IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Iowa's executive branch has agreed to pay $125,000 to a former University of Northern Iowa employee who claimed she suffered workplace mistreatment so severe that it caused her to attempt suicide, according to documents released Wednesday.
The payment is for the "emotional distress" suffered by Dianne Bascom, a 59-year-old former account clerk for the university's fundraising foundation, the settlement agreement says.
Bascom filed a lawsuit against the state and the university last year alleging discrimination, harassment and retaliation by three supervisors, including Bill Calhoun, the foundation's president and the university's vice president for advancement.
A resident of Hudson, Bascom said that she suffers migraines, anxiety, depression and other mental health problems that were either created or exacerbated by a hostile workplace environment she faced for years after her hiring in 2000. The lawsuit said she had to take time off under the Family Medical Leave Act for those problems, which caused further retaliation, she claimed.
The lawsuit said the "harassing, discriminatory, retaliatory and inappropriate actions" of supervisors caused her to attempt to commit suicide in November 2010, which led to a two-month leave from work. She said that when she returned in January 2011, her work materials had been taken away, she was given a new job description and work standards, put on a performance improvement plan and told her job was in jeopardy.
Bascom alleged those actions were an attempt to force her to resign and claimed she was placed on administrative leave shortly after filing a second internal complaint about her treatment. She later qualified for long-term disability benefits under a university insurance policy because she has been unable to work.
State officials denied her allegations.
Calhoun didn't return a voice message Wednesday, and university spokesman Scott Ketelsen said the school wouldn't comment on the case. The other two supervisors involved, then-foundation vice president Kristine Even and accounting manager Molly Wilson, no longer work for the university.
The case had been scheduled for trial in September. But to resolve the dispute, lawyers for Bascom and the Iowa Attorney General's Office reached the settlement through a Jan. 22 mediation. The State Appeal Board, a panel of high-ranking state officials, approved the deal Monday and released the settlement and related documents to The Associated Press on Wednesday.
"My client is relieved to have this matter behind her," said Bascom's attorney, Lynn Smith of Waterloo. "We are pleased to have achieved a successful resolution on her behalf."
Bascom agreed to drop the lawsuit once the payment is made and to be barred from working again for any of the state's three public universities or their sponsored programs. The money will come from the state's general fund.
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