Workplace Sex Harassment Draws Suspension

The Iowa Supreme Court imposed a suspension of at least six months in a matter involving findings of sexual harassment by an elected county attorney against two employees.

We disagree with the [Grievance C]ommission’s recommended sanction of thirty days and suspend the attorney’s license to practice law for an indefinite period with no possibility of reinstatement for six months from the filing of this opinion.

The attorney

Abraham Watkins graduated from law school in 2004. He was not a licensed attorney and primarily supported himself by playing poker until he and his wife, Renee, decided to move to Iowa in 2012.

..In September 2014, Watkins hired Jane Doe,  who was then twenty years old, as a legal assistant. Two months later, Watkins was elected as the Van Buren county attorney, and he assumed office on January 1, 2015.

The allegations of Ms. Doe and an assistant county attorney (“ACA”)

Several of the complaints involved the sexual-harassment allegations at issue in this case. Watkins appeared before Doe on at least two occasions wearing only his boxer briefs. He told Doe that “he just wished he had a wife that had sex with him all the time,” and he was glad he kept naked pictures of his former girlfriends. Watkins made a sexually driven “joke” about a floor cleaner called “Bona” in the presence of Doe and the women who were cleaning his office.

In reference to a female client, Watkins told Doe, “Man, I wouldn’t want to see her naked.” In discussing a courthouse employee, Watkins told Doe that he needed to see if she “wore a padded bra or if her boobs were really that big.” He referred to a local attorney as “T.Queef,” which is a term that describes the emission of air from the vagina. Moreover, Watkins told Doe that her “boobs [were] distracting him” and that she should wear that same shirt if she “ever went clubbing.” He also asked Doe on multiple occasions if “her vagina was still broke” after she missed work for a gynecology appointment.

Watkins also showed Doe and the ACA private images of his wife. Specifically, he showed Doe a picture on his cell phone of his wife’s vagina. He also showed her a video of his wife squirting breast milk in the back seat of Doe’s vehicle. Watkins kept nude photographs of his wife on his computer, and he showed the ACA one of these photos in which his wife was pregnant, nude, and covered in blue paint.

The court on the violations

The “ ‘[g]arden variety’ gender harassment . . . includes ‘woman bashing’ jokes, insults about [women’s] incompetence, the irrelevance or sexual unattractiveness of older women, and comments that women have no place in certain kinds of jobs.” Fitzgerald & Cortina at 7. In a “more pernicious form,” it includes “referring to women by degraded names for body parts, pornographic images, [and] crude comments about female sexuality or sexual activity.” Id. This discrimination does not require an individual woman to serve as its target or unwanted sexual overtures, nor does it need to be explicitly linked to any job or consideration. Id. at 7–8, 26.

Watkins’s behavior in this case virtually ran the whole gamut of the actions mentioned above. For example, Watkins made a sexually driven “joke” about a floor cleaner called “Bona” in the presence of Doe and the women who were cleaning his office. In reference to a female client, Watkins told Doe, “Man, I wouldn’t want to see her naked.” On another occasion, he told Doe that he needed to see if a certain courthouse employee “wore a padded bra or if her boobs were really that big.” He referred to a local female attorney as “T.Queef,” which is a term that describes the emission of air from the vagina. 

Moreover, he told Doe that her “boobs [were] distracting him” and that she should wear that same shirt if she “ever went clubbing.” Watkins also asked Doe on multiple occasions if “her vagina was still broke” after she missed work once for a gynecology appointment. Further, Watkins told Doe that “he just wished he had a wife that had sex with him all the time” and that he was glad he collected and kept naked pictures of his former girlfriends.

Watkins showed Doe a picture on his cell phone of his wife’s vagina. On another occasion, Watkins showed Doe a video of his wife squirting breast milk in the back seat of Doe’s vehicle. Watkins also kept naked photographs of his wife on his computer, and he showed the ACA one of these photos in which his wife was pregnant, nude, and covered in blue paint. Additionally, Watkins appeared before Doe wearing only his boxer briefs on at least two occasions. Based on these facts, we agree with the commission that Watkins violated rule 32:8.4(g).

The court did not consider his removal from office and subsequent reinstatement as a mitigating factor. 

The court’s sanction analysis noted the power imbalance and harm caused by workplace sexual harassment

Watkins created and fostered a culture of sexual harassment that persisted for two years. Doe had the courage to resign and speak up about Watkins’s behavior. Much of Watkins’s misconduct reads like textbook examples of what not to do in the workplace. He abused the public’s trust and confidence as an elected official and the county attorney tasked with seeking justice for victims of other forms of harassment. He undermined the virtues that we hold in high regard within the legal profession.

Despite his admitted embarrassment over the public backlash he received during his removal proceedings, Watkins still continues to minimize and make excuses for his behavior. The commission’s thirty-day suspension sends the message that sexual harassment in the form of gender discrimination is less harmful than other forms of sexual harassment, which have received harsher sanctions. Sexual harassment in all forms is unacceptable and unethical.

…The proper sanction in this case is the suspension of Watkins’s license to practice law for an indefinite period with no possibility of reinstatement for six months from the filing of this opinion.

The briefs are linked here. 

The Des Moines Register reported in July 2018

A Minnesota hotel clerk says a southern Iowa county attorney who was temporarily removed from office for sexual harassment spent hours in March “intensely” pursuing her for sex and drugs while his wife and children were in their room. 

Trissa Lind, 21, a clerk at the Home2 Suites hotel in Minnetonka, Minnesota, told the Des Moines Register that the incident involving Van Buren County Attorney Abraham Watkins occurred in March — the same time the Iowa Supreme Court was reviewing Watkins’ removal from office.

Lind told the Register that Watkins asked her where he could find marijuana, suggested she would be a good stripper, talked about sex with his wife and made comments that included how he likes puzzles and wanted to “figure out the puzzle to making me orgasm.”

“He had told me he was a lawyer and I was thinking: ‘What lawyer would ever act like this?’ I didn’t believe a thing I heard,” Lind said.

After pestering her for about four hours, Watkins finally fell asleep in the hotel lobby, Lind said.

Watkins said he didn’t “specifically recall” the incident and declined to confirm whether he had stayed at the hotel, instead referring questions to his attorney, Alfredo Parrish. Parrish also declined to say whether Watkins had stayed at the hotel and said he didn’t believe Lind’s allegations to be credible.

(Mike Frisch)