Sexual harassment lawsuit against Beaufort County Council member settled for $21K
A lawsuit that accused a Beaufort County Council member of sexual harassing a former county employee was settled for $21,000 this month, according to a settlement agreement obtained by The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette.
The civil lawsuit filed in May 2019 by Ashley Bennett, the county’s former clerk of council, accused Council member Gerald Dawson of “unwelcomed touching” and “harassing comments related to (her) sex.”
Dawson previously denied the allegations.
“There are fabrications, and it’s all for monetary gain,” he told the newspapers in May 2019.
Court filings show the suit, which named Dawson and Beaufort County Council as defendants, was dismissed with prejudice on Friday.
Dawson was dismissed from the case on Oct. 12 — before the settlement was signed, he said Thursday.
“It’s good to finally have it behind me and resolved,” he said. “Now I can continue with the business of council.”
The settlement agreement, signed by Bennett on Oct. 15, releases the county from any previous or future claims related to the suit. Bennett also can’t seek re-employment with the county in the future, according to the agreement.
The agreement states that both parties would have to pay their own legal fees. The lawsuit was settled through the South Carolina Insurance Reserve Fund, and county funds were not used to pay the $21,000, according to an email sent to all council members from then-Administrator Ashley Jacobs.
“It was all Insurance Reserve Fund money, no money from the County,” the email said. “IRF made a business decision that it was cheaper for them to settle than to pay two law firms to defend it. They fully funded the settlement.”
Allen Holmes, Bennett’s attorney, confirmed on Wednesday that the suit was “resolved” and that an agreement was reached, but would not confirm the settlement amount.
Dawson, who represents the Sheldon, Dale, Lobeco and Burton areas of the county in District 1, has been on council since 2005. He will be on the ballot — running unopposed — for his fifth term on Tuesday.
Bennett first began working for the county in 2007 as an administrative assistant. She took over as clerk of council in September 2016. Her lawsuit claimed that, around that time, Dawson made “repeated unwelcome sexual comments” toward her and touched her “inappropriately on multiple occasions.”
She resigned from the county in 2018.
Consulting contracts
In December 2019, the newspapers reported that, after Bennett resigned, Beaufort County paid her $24,000 through a consulting contract to create minutes of meetings at $100 per hour.
The contract language was almost identical to the “secret” consulting contract the county gave former interim Administrator Josh Gruber after he wasn’t chosen for the permanent job.
According to records obtained by the newspapers, the county had paid nearly $364,000 to 37 current or former government employees through independent professional service agreements since 2009.
This story was originally published October 29, 2020 at 7:00 AM.
