Cumberland County, Tennessee, officials have agreed to pay $1.1 million to settle a federal civil rights case on behalf of 10 women claiming sexual harassment and discrimination by the head of the county’s solid waste department. The women, some of whom were performing court-ordered community service in the department, say Michael Harvel grabbed them, sexually propositioned them, forced them to look at or touch his penis, and touched them under their clothes. One woman says he threatened to rape her. Harvel is facing charges of sexual battery, assault, and official misconduct.
