A Summit County Prosecutor’s Office supervisor sexually harassed two secretaries by repeatedly hounding them about their personal lives, investigations by the Summit County Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) have concluded.

The prosecutor’s office “knew or should have known of the harassment and failed to take actions to correct it,” Tenille Kaus, the county’s EEO compliance officer, said in one of her recently finished reports.

Kaus concluded that Lisa Holdt, the chief administrator in Summit County Prosecutor Sherri Bevan Walsh’s Office, sexually harassed former secretaries Jennifer Cline and Chelsea Fernandez. She said Holdt repeatedly asked Cline about her dating life and continually questioned Hernandez about an alleged romantic relationship with former Chief Investigator Ben Bergeron — though there was no “concrete evidence” to support this relationship and both Fernandez and Bergeron denied it.

Despite the conclusions, Holdt faces no disciplinary action and will remain in her current position.

Walsh said she disagrees with the EEO conclusions. She said in an interview Wednesday that she and several other attorneys reviewed Kaus’ reports and decided Holdt’s behavior didn’t meet the legal definition of sexual harassment.

“We all came to the same conclusion — these facts do not constitute sexual harassment under law,” she said during a 1½-hour interview.

Walsh, though, said her office plans additional sexual harassment training for Holdt and other supervisors early next year.

Cline and Fernandez are among four employees who filed complaints against Walsh’s office in late July alleging discrimination, sexual harassment and retaliation. Both Cline and Fernandez resigned, blaming a hostile work environment.

Kaus has not finished her investigations into complaints made by Bergeron, who was fired, and secretary Yolanda Richardson, who still works for Walsh.

In the course of the investigations, Bergeron provided Kaus with a secret recording he made of a July 30 conversation between him and former Chief Assistant Prosecutor Margaret Scott.

Walsh demoted Scott in November because of statements she made in the Bergeron recording. She later resigned to become a Summit County Domestic Relations Court magistrate.

The Lorain County Sheriff’s Office and the state auditor’s office are looking into allegations Bergeron made on that recording. Walsh said she requested that an outside agency be consulted for this purpose.

Walsh, Summit County’s longest-serving prosecutor, holding the seat for 17 years, has characterized the complaints as an effort by Bergeron to rile up other employees and seek revenge against her office for his termination.

Cline, following her lawyer's advice, declined to discuss Kaus’ conclusions.

Fernandez said she was pleased with the results. She said Holdt should be fired, and she would love to get an apology.

“I think the entire administration needs to be held accountable,” she said. “Let the cards play out how they will.”

Holdt declined to comment for this story.

EEO conclusions

Kaus did interviews, reviewed documents and listened to audio recordings for her investigations.

In her report, Kaus said Cline made it clear to Holdt that she didn’t want to discuss her dating life, but Holdt continued anyway.

For example, Kaus said, Holdt asked Cline to take a break and the two of them discussed whether they were likely to remarry and Holdt asked if Cline was dating anyone. Holdt described this as a “comfortable conversation,” while Cline described it as uncomfortable and said it “lasted an eternity.”

Kaus said Holdt asked Cline in May 2017 if she had dated a specific police officer. Holdt said she told Cline, “I would love for you to meet someone.”

Kaus said Cline reported her concerns about Holdt to Assistant Prosecutor Angela Walls-Alexander, the community outreach director, and to Scott.

Kaus said it is “unclear if Holdt understands the nature of her position and boundaries that must be in place with all employees but especially subordinates.”

Kaus said in Fernandez’s report that Holdt talked to Fernandez about an alleged romantic relationship between her and Bergeron and said Fernandez had frequently been seen in Bergeron’s office. Kaus said Fernandez denied the relationship and submitted an affidavit July 27 stating she had not been sexually harassed by Bergeron.

Kaus said Fernandez told Holdt that suggestions that she was having a relationship with Bergeron were unwelcome. She said Holdt, however, again questioned Fernandez about the alleged relationship July 20, saying Fernandez had been seen in his office.

Kaus said Fernandez, like Cline, reported her concerns about Holdt to Walls-Alexander and Scott. Holdt told Kaus she also spoke with Scott about her concerns over the alleged relationship, telling Scott, “I think Ben’s grooming her.”

Kaus found no evidence to support Fernandez’s claims that she had been retaliated against or bullied.

Kaus, however, found that Holdt sexually harassed Cline and Fernandez “through her actions and words.” She also made several recommendations for Walsh. These included designating an employee to handle human resource functions and reporting future sexual harassment allegations to the EEO office.

Summit County’s sexual harassment policy states that when it is determined harassment has occurred, “disciplinary action, up to and including termination, shall be taken.”

Deborah Matz, Summit County’s law director, said Kaus’ reports were provided to Walsh, and it is up to Walsh to decide how to respond to them.

Walsh’s response

Walsh said she was surprised by Kaus’ conclusions and didn’t expect her to find any wrongdoing.

Walsh said Kaus’ reports represent the opinions of one person and can’t be appealed. She said she asked attorneys in her civil and appellate divisions and an outside attorney to review Kaus’ reports and none of them thought sexual harassment findings were warranted.

Walsh said sexual harassment is defined under the law as unwanted repeated sexual attention at work. She said whether it is illegal depends on whether an employee’s continued employment or working conditions require going along with the behavior and if the behavior creates a hostile work environment. She said the behavior must be pervasive.

Walsh said she is particularly concerned about Kaus’ findings regarding Fernandez. She said Holdt and several other supervisors questioned both Fernandez and Bergeron about the suspected relationship out of concern that this could open the office up for a potential sexual harassment lawsuit down the road. Walsh said she had no photographs proving the two were in a relationship but had plenty of circumstantial evidence. She called the fact that addressing this situation was found to be harassment “disturbing.”

Though Walsh doesn’t agree with Kaus’ conclusions, she thought it was important to have additional training with supervisors on sexual harassment to answer their hypothetical questions. She said her office has always been like a “second family” for her employees, with supervisors often offering advice and moral support for those having problems.

Walsh said she can’t discipline Holdt for findings that she thinks are contrary to law.

Brad Gessner, Walsh’s chief counsel and Holdt’s supervisor, did, however, give Holdt a “coaching memorandum” Tuesday that went over Kaus’ conclusions. Gessner said in the memorandum that Holdt’s intent may have been to help the employees, but they perceived this as harassment.

“This office will seek professional development coaching to assist you and all supervisors in the office to most effectively handle such situations in the future and improve professional development and supervisory skills,” Gessner said, adding that this training will be mandatory.

This document, signed by Gessner and Holdt, was provided to several people, including Kaus and Shapiro.

Walsh said her office has a payroll/personnel administrator and attorneys in the civil division who review human resource issues. She said she would be happy to add a human resource employee if the county provided the funding for it. She said her budget is tight, with a priority on hiring a sufficient number of prosecutors, victim advocates and investigators.

Walsh said if Cline or Fernandez sue, she is confident her office will prevail.

“The law would not support a finding of sexual harassment under these facts,” she said.

Stephanie Warsmith can be reached at 330-996-3705, swarsmith@thebeaconjournal.com; and on Twitter: @swarsmithabj.