Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Employee pursues harassment claim against district
EEOC’s dismissal of complaint opens way for filing lawsuit, attorney says
FAYETTEVILLE — A School District employee and her attorney may pursue legal action against the district based on how officials handled her sexual harassment claims against former superintendent Matthew Wendt.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission dismissed Shae Lynn Newman’s complaint on the matter in September, but that was merely one step in the process because it grants her the right to sue the district, according to her attorney, Suzanne Clark.
Clark said they hope to avoid taking the case that far.
“I am working with the School District and hoping we don’t have to sue,” Clark said. “I believe Miss Newman is entitled to compensation for what she went through.”
Missy McJunkins Duke, a Little Rock attorney
representing the district, declined to comment on the matter.
Newman worked as a receptionist in the district’s administration office with Wendt during the six months they had a personal relationship, starting in September 2017. She made a sexual harassment complaint to district officials against Wendt in March 2018. She filed her complaint with the commission in May.
The School Board fired Wendt in June, citing a breach of contract by violating the district’s sexual harassment policy. Wendt violated the policy through his derogatory and offensive conduct and communication with a female subordinate employee, said Susan Kendall, lawyer with the Kendall Law Firm in Rogers and the board’s legal counsel.
Newman is now an elementary school teacher in the district. Her husband continues to work for the district as a counselor.
Wendt filed a lawsuit against the district in September claiming he was wrongfully terminated. That suit is still pending. A hearing on the district’s motion to dismiss the case is scheduled for Wednesday in front of Washington County Circuit Judge John Threet.
Wendt is suing to be reinstated as superintendent with all back and future compensation and benefits or to be awarded damages for breach of contract for wrongful termination, according to the lawsuit.
Randy Coleman, Wendt’s attorney, said the commission’s dismissal of Newman’s complaint is relevant to his case against the district.
That’s because the district alleged sexual harassment up until Wendt was fired, but when it came time to respond to Newman’s complaint to the commission, the district used many of the same facts Wendt had submitted in his defense against the harassment claim, Coleman said.
Coleman submitted a copy of the commission’s decision to the court Monday in an amendment to Wendt’s complaint against the district.
Duke declined to comment; however, in a document she filed in January related to the district’s motion to dismiss, she sought to draw a distinction between sexual harassment as a form of sex discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act — which is what the commission deals with — and the School Board’s sexual harassment policy.
Wendt had sex with a subordinate employee and used explicit and derogatory language toward that employee; the board made a decision based on board policy, “which the board is entitled to make,” Duke wrote in a document filed with the court in January.
Wendt has been unable to obtain other employment because of the “false and adverse press and publicity” about him, and even has lost out on several opportunities in China, Coleman wrote in a text.
“He has been wrongfully portrayed as a predator. He even attempted to get a job selling cars in the community and was declined,” Coleman wrote.
Dawn Wendt, Matthew Wendt’s wife, is a teacher at Woodland Junior High School.
Wendt filed a lawsuit in August against Newman claiming her interference was responsible for his termination and his inability to find work. The lawsuit sought not less than $850,000 in damages from Newman. Washington County Circuit Judge John Threet dismissed the suit, finding it did not contain valid legal claims.
Coleman said he and Wendt plan to refile the suit against Newman.
Records released by the district last year showed Wendt and Newman exchanged nearly 12,500 text messages and 936 cellphone calls between Sept. 22, 2017, and March 9, 2018.
Dave Perozek can be reached at dperozek@nwadg.com or on Twitter @NWADaveP.