Bachmeier awarded $175K

A state hearing officer has awarded Randy Bachmeier, the dean of Montana State University-Northern's Extended University, $175,000 for emotional distress he suffered by being sexually harassed by then-Provost Rosalyn Templeton.

Montana Human Relations Commission Hearing Officer Terry Spear, in a strongly worded finding, wrote that it was obvious that Bachmeier was being sexually harassed.

Montana University System officials said this morning that they had filed an appeal in district court at Helena even before Spear released the decision because they strongly disagree with the procedure that has been followed by the Human Relations Commission.

Bachmeier's attorney, John Heenan of Billings, said the award was "one of the largest, if not the largest" he had ever seen the commission impose.

He said the award is far greater than the $75,000 Bachmeier had sought.

"I think that speaks to the reasonableness of Randy's request," Heenan said.

The $175,000 award is on top of a $20,000 award that the commission awarded him for retaliation after he filed his complaints with the commission.

Spear heard evidence in the case during a series of hearings in Havre during the summer of 2014. He found there was no discrimination, but found the university had retaliated against Bachmeier.

But the full five-member commission overruled Spear, saying that the evidence was clear - there had been discrimination. The commission ordered Spear to review the case and to determine how much Bachmeier should be awarded.

Deputy Montana University System Chancellor Kevin McRae said this morning that this procedure is what prompted the appeal into district court.

He said the university believes the commission exceeded its authority when it overruled Spear based on its reading of the evidence, and the appeal would have taken place regardless of what Spear's decision was.

McRae said, according to the university's reading of the law, the commission can overrule the hearing officer based on matters of law but not on the facts.

He said it is possible the case will eventually be heard by the Montana Supreme Court.

Asked about Spear's ruling, he said, "this is the same hearing officer who on the first round determined there was no harassment," he said.

But the university's objections go beyond the procedural, he said.

He defended the university's handling of the case.

"We are confident that Mr. Bachmeier was treated fairly ... by the university," he said.

"Despite all the ways in which MSU-N knew about Templeton's behavior of inappropriate touching of males, and her unerring sense of which males would be most distressed by it, MSU-N ignored it as long as possible," Spear wrote in a decision released Friday afternoon.

After enduring the harassment for three years, Bachmeier filed a complaint with the commission, Spear wrote.

Northern finally took action, but it was "half-hearted and ineffective," Spear continued.

During the hearing, Bachmeier testified that Templeton had repeatedly rubbed him. Spear noted that Bachmier had installed a chime on his door so he could be alerted when she was entering the office and had moved his desk so he could see her coming.

"Bachmeier gave compelling testimony of the emotional distress (he) has suffered during the approximately three-year period when Templeton was subjecting him to inappropriate touch in the workplace," Spear wrote.

Bachmeier testified that he suffered nightmares because of the incidents.

When he filed the complaint with the Human Relations Commission, Templeton reprimanded him twice in 24 hours, Spear said. He said that was evidence of retaliation.

Even then, he wrote, Northern took no effort to remove her from campus.

Eventually she resigned and left prior to her scheduled departure date.

Then-Chancellor James Limbaugh told the Havre Daily News at the time that Templeton left early because her work was completed, but in the hearing he said he terminated Templeton's employment because of his concern for Bachmeier.

Heenen, Bachmeier's lawyer, said he was appalled by the conduct of Northern and the Montana University System during the case.

"From the very beginning, ... Bachmeier instructed us to seek a compromise, to find a settlement," he said.

Instead, Heenan said, Northern fought every effort to strike a deal.

The university kept appealing rulings, he said, and ended up paying more money than it would have otherwise.

He placed the blame on Montana State University President Waded Cruzado for spending tax dollars that could have been saved.

"There was no time during the hearing that they didn't have three attorneys there," he said.

"It's a head-scratcher as to why she kept fighting this," he said. "I think it is bureaucracy at its worst."

He said he had seen such determination in employers in cases where the employee had left the workplace, but he noted that Bachmeier had remained at Northen and is "an employee in good standing."

Tracy Ellig, MSU's executive director of university communications, was not available this morning to respond to Heenan's comments.

Heenan said Bachmier will ask District court to have Northern pay his legal bills, "which, frankly, are quite substantial," he said.

Initially, Northern sought to keep the hearings closed to the public and wanted documents kept under seal.

A Havre Daily News attorney argued that the public was entitled to know about the dispute at the public institution. Spear ruled for the newspaper and ordered that the hearings be open.