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Harassment Suit Settled By United

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By CAROL GENTRY, The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 18, 2007

United HealthCare of Florida Inc. has agreed to pay an unprecedented $1.8 million to settle federal accusations of same-sex harassment by one of its former top executives.

The agreement, which was filed in U.S. District Court in Miami this month, represents the largest payment to an individual that the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has ever won in a same-gender sexual harassment case, said Nora Curtin, regional attorney for the Miami District Office.

EEOC charged that United didn't take the complaints of senior account executive Daniel Wolansky seriously in 2004 when he reported that the regional vice president for key accounts kept making verbal sexual advances to him, even though Wolansky said he made it plain that he was not gay and not interested.

Further, EEOC charged, United failed to protect Wolansky from retaliation by the executive who was the focus of his complaints, William F. Condon III. EEOC said that in the months after making his complaint, Wolansky was gradually stripped of the sales commissions and stock options that made up the bulk of his annual pay, which had been about $350,000. He resigned Jan. 11, 2005.

The lesson, Curtin said, is: 'Employers cannot disregard a complaint of sexual harassment because it comes from a male employee. All employees are entitled to a workplace where they are not targeted because of their gender.'

Deal Isn't Admission Of Wrong
United HealthCare of Florida Inc., a subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group Inc. of Minnetonka, Minn., said in court filings that the accusations were 'baseless.' The negotiated agreement stated that it was not to be construed as an admission of wrongdoing on United's part, but as an effort to avoid the cost of a court fight.

'We take very seriously our longstanding commitment to fostering a workplace where all employees are valued and treated with respect,' the company said in an e-mail to The Tampa Tribune this week. 'The agreement announced earlier this month is consistent with our practices of providing a workplace where diversity is valued and free from discrimination.'

In addition to the payment, the company agreed to draft a new anti-harassment policy for its employees in the state and provide on-site training on federal employment discrimination laws at the office in which Wolansky worked. That office is in Sunrise.

Case Had Bay Area Connection

Wolansky apparently had a tie to Tampa Bay, even though his office was in Broward County. His largest account was Bayfront Health Systems Inc., according to court documents, EEOC and Wolansky's former attorney. A spokeswoman for the nonprofit health system headed by Bayfront Medical Center in St. Petersburg said staff there did not know anything about Wolansky.

Wolansky filed the complaint in September 2006 in Miami-Dade Circuit Court, but EEOC later joined the suit and moved it to federal court. In July, United asked a magistrate to dismiss the case for lack of evidence. That motion, however, was denied in September, and soon after the parties signed the settlement.

The settlement appeared on the States News Service wire on Oct. 2 but attracted little attention. On the same day, a jury awarded $11.6 million in damages to a female executive of the New York Knicks basketball team who said she was sexually harassed by the coach.

EEOC said that sexual harassment complaints are still mostly filed by women, but that men's role as complainants has risen from 9 percent in 1992 to 15 percent in 2006.

EEOC's only same-gender harassment settlement that involved a larger payout - $1.9 million - was on behalf of a group of Minnesota men who worked for a meat-packing company, Curtin said.

Wolansky and Condon have left the company. The settlement includes a no-comment requirement.

Reporter Carol Gentry can be reached at (813) 259-7624 or cgentry@tampatrib.com.

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