Benton County pays ex-deputy $250,000 settlement over claims of harassment

VINTON — The Benton County Board of Supervisors paid a former female sheriff’s deputy a $250,000 settlement last week over claims related to her employment and that the supervisors’ chairman inappropriately touched her in May.

The settlement states she had filed claims of failure to hire, unequal pay, denied benefits, harassment and retaliatory harassment against Tracy Seeman, chairman of the Board of Supervisors, and other supervisors, along with the civil service commission and sheriff’s office.

The agreement states the woman disclosed she made a complaint with the Iowa Civil Rights Commission but it doesn’t say when that was filed.

The $250,000 settlement releases the board and others from any further legal action, according to the document obtained Thursday by The Gazette from the Benton County Auditor’s Office.

A video copy of the inappropriate touching also was provided by the auditor’s office.

The video shows Seeman talking to the deputy in a hallway of the Benton County Service Center, and as she turns to walk away, Seeman pats her on the bottom. The woman walks away with a disgusted look on her face.

As part of the settlement agreement, the former deputy also submitted her “voluntary resignation” and any right to apply for county employment in the future.

The board and other parties also don’t admit they violated any state or federal laws by agreeing to this settlement, the document states.

The former deputy signed the settlement Oct. 9 and the supervisors signed it Oct. 17, according to the document.

The settlement comes on the heels of the supervisors firing members of the county’s Benton County Board of Health.

Comments: (319) 398-8318; trish.mehaffey@thegazette.com