More than half of Larimer County’s largest public employers conceal sexual harassment claims

Fort Collins Coloradoan: As the number of women who have been sexually harassed at work spikes across the nation, Larimer County’s largest public employers are mostly unwilling or unable to disclose how prevalent the problem may be locally.

During a nearly four-month investigation, the Coloradoan requested the number of sexual harassment complaints filed over the past five years by employees of the nine largest nonfederal, public employers in Larimer County. Colorado Open Records Act requests for the data were sent to: Front Range Community College, Colorado State University, the cities of Fort Collins and Loveland and their police departments, Larimer County and its sheriff’s office, Poudre and Thompson school districts, Loveland Fire Rescue Authority and Poudre Fire Authority.

Fewer than half of those employers released data on the number of sexual assault complaints they substantiated in response to the Coloradoan request.

Four employers: CSU, FRCC, Larimer County and city of Loveland collectively confirmed 20 cases of sexual harassment in the five-year period.

That’s 20 substantiated complaints among more than 21,000 employees working at the nine agencies — a far cry from survey results released earlier this year in which 38 percent of women said they experienced sexual harassment in the workplace.

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