Whatcom County paid $225K to settle sexual harassment complaints

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Whatcom County paid $225K to settle sexual harassment complaints

Whatcom County officials paid $225,000 last November to settle claims that a former Public Works director sexually harassed a female employee for more than two years. Jon Hutchings resigned in lieu of termination in October 2022, just one day before a third-party investigator interviewed three female employees who reported Hutchings had made sexual comments to them or touched them inappropriately while at work. But county leaders never formally …