The County of Ventura will pay a former employee $285,000 to settle her lawsuit accusing former County Executive Officer Mike Powers of sexual harassment, the second such settlement the county has agreed to in the past month.
The county finalized a settlement with a different former employee in March for $3 million. That employee filed a lawsuit in 2022 that said Powers had called her racially derogatory nicknames, touched and kissed her against her will twice, pursued a relationship with her and retaliated against her when she rejected him.
Her allegations led the Ventura County Board of Supervisors to place Powers on leave in March 2022. He stepped down from his position two days later.
The second lawsuit was filed in 2023 by a former executive of the Ventura County Health Care Agency. She did not accuse Powers of any improper physical contact, but she said he “inappropriately flirted” with her, “sexualized” the workplace, treated women as “sexual objects,” treated her differently than male colleagues and pushed her out of her job when she complained. Her lawsuit also named Bill Foley, who was director of the Health Care Agency when she worked there.
The health care executive dropped Powers from her lawsuit in March, a few weeks before reaching her settlement with the county. The settlement agreement was finalized on April 14.
Legal settlements by government agencies are public records, and the county provided a copy of the agreement in response to a request made by The Star under the California Public Records Act.
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Neither Powers nor the county admitted wrongdoing in either settlement agreement, and Powers has denied the allegations against him.
Both settlements have provisions barring the parties from discussing them publicly, except as required by the Public Records Act and other laws. The parties in each settlement also agreed to respond to media inquiries by stating only that their lawsuit has been resolved, and, “because this involves a personnel matter, the county will not comment further on this matter.”
Between the two settlements and the county’s legal costs in defending itself against lawsuits, the disputes over Powers’ conduct have cost the county about $4.3 million, according to information from public records provided by County Counsel Tiffany North, the county’s top attorney.
The county spent about $506,000 defending itself against the first lawsuit, which was settled for $3 million, and another $464,000 on the one that was settled more recently for $285,000. It has spent another $45,000 defending itself against a wrongful termination suit filed by Powers in 2022.
The county’s insurance policies will cover some of its costs. Insurance generally pays for anything above $1 million in settlement costs and legal fees in a particular case.
Tony Biasotti is an investigative and watchdog reporter for the Ventura County Star. Reach him at tbiasotti@vcstar.com. This story was made possible by a grant from the Ventura County Community Foundation’s Fund to Support Local Journalism.
This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Ventura County settles second lawsuit over ex-CEO Powers
Reporting by Tony Biasotti, Ventura County Star / Ventura County Star
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