Dianna Brooks, the former executive assistant and bookkeeper in the Hobart Township Trustee’s Office, documented and reported seven instances of sexual harassment in 14 months at the hands of another township employee.
That included him repeatedly brushing his genitals against her.
Kendra Krebs, a former clerk/assistant in the same office, said she was subject to another employee’s daily jokes, which were racist and homophobic, and to his urinating in a bathroom in a common area without closing the door.
She, too, said she was the target of unwanted sexual advances from the same township employee as Brooks, from John Long, the township’s former parks manager and Hobart Township Trustee Fred Williams’ ally.
The women’s claims are documented in federal lawsuits filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Hammond against Williams and the township itself. The lawsuits were discussed during a news conference held in the Barrington West subdivision’s clubhouse in Hobart.
“I’m here because the residents of Hobart Township need to believe their public officials are held accountable,” Brooks said during the news conference.
Krebs, who did not address the media, was removed from her job with a police escort, the day after Williams reportedly told her to “shut up or go home” in front of a client of the trustee’s office, according to her lawsuit.
“What a humiliating experience,” said Crown Point attorney Robin Remley, who is representing both women.
The lawsuits, with several overlapping claims, encompass a host of allegations that the women said resulted in a hostile work environment that also included retaliation for bringing up concerns about the misuse of township funds and, ultimately, both of them losing their jobs.
Brooks, of Hobart, worked as an executive administrator and bookkeeper in the office for more than eight years until June 17, 2024, when she was terminated. Krebs, of Gary, who is gay and alleges her sexuality was often a target for her mistreatment, was a clerk/assistant, hired in October 2022 and terminated in mid-February.
Williams did not return requests for comment left via email and voicemail. He took office in 2023 and is on the primary ballot against fellow Democrat Ericka McCauley, a public relations professional who organized the news conference about the allegations.
“This is about employee rights to report misconduct without fear of retaliation,” McCauley said as the news conference got underway.
Brooks, addressing the news conference, said she was a civilian employee, not a political appointee, whose duties included payroll, overseeing township bank accounts, end-of-year financial reconciliation and safeguarding public funds.
“That responsibility mattered to me and that’s why I’m standing here today,” she said, before moving on to her allegations of sexual harassment, reportedly from Long.
Brooks said she reported that harassment to Williams.
“I did what I was supposed to do. I reported it seven times in 14 months with a witness every time. Each time, nothing was done.”
Long is not named as a party in the lawsuits, though Remley said he may be added later. She described him as a “grifter” and a “drifter,” and, according to Brooks’ lawsuit, “has absconded to another state.”
According to Krebs’ lawsuit, she witnessed a township park employee being directed during work hours by Williams to go to Williams’ home and perform leaf-blowing in his yard. Additionally, the park employee and Williams, also on work time, went to Menards and purchased a battery for Williams’ golf cart, using a township debit card, and later exchanged the battery when it didn’t work, also during work hours.
Krebs alleged that Williams and the same park employee went to the home of a township assistance client to purchase a firearm from the client for cash. Williams told the client not to mention the cash transaction to the township, and the client did not disclose it on income forms.
Krebs also, per the lawsuit, saw Williams solicit a township workfare client for personal cash side jobs on weekends while the client was claiming no income for purposes of assistance eligibility, “an arrangement that reflected a corrupt quid pro quo between Williams and a Township recipient that misused both client services and Township assistance funds.”
“Williams’ conduct was, as a matter of law, the official policy of the Township,” Brooks’ lawsuit noted.
The lawsuit adds that the township’s “complete absence of any anti-harassment policy” or grievance mechanism for complaints about the trustee’s conduct, or relief for employees whose complaints the trustee refused to remedy, “constituted deliberate indifference to the known constitutional and statutory rights of female employees.”
Brooks also alleges that Williams, in retaliation for her complaints about Long, revoked her bank access, seized her signature stamps and cut off her direct deposit. Krebs’ lawsuit claims that Williams retaliated against her for activity protected by the First Amendment, including her social media activity on her personal device outside of work hours.
The women, Remley said, “did the right thing” and lost their jobs as a result of that.
The timing of the lawsuits, less than two weeks before early voting begins April 7 for the primary elections, is not immaterial, Remley said, but Krebs only recently lost her job. Additionally, Brooks is coming up on the two-year mark of when she lost her job, which would hit the statute of limitations for filing a lawsuit.
Brooks also has a pending civil suit in Lake Superior Court against the township for $6,261.75 in unpaid wages, filed in September 2024. She is on the ballot as well, seeking a seat on the township advisory board as a Democrat.
Both women are asking for jury trials; compensation for lost wages, benefits and emotional distress; punitive damages against Williams and Long; and attorneys’ fees and other costs.
alavalley@chicagotribune.com
