Roswell court clerk alleges sexual harassment
A Roswell Municipal Court clerk has filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against the city, saying she was demoted after complaining about a former part-time prosecutor.
The former prosecutor denied most of the allegations. The city declined comment, saying it doesn't respond to the media during litigation.
Court clerk Shawn McEwing did not return a phone call seeking comment, but in the lawsuit she said Bob Harris would comment on female employees' breasts by saying, "They're looking good today" and telling women in skirts, "Nice looking legs."
McEwing said Harris treated women lawyers in a demeaning manner and tried to handle only the cases of female defendants, to whom he would offer favorable plea deals after making inappropriate sexual comments.
McEwing said she and other women employees verbally complained for years about Harris but nothing happened. McEwing said she filed a written complaint in July 2009 and was scolded by Robby Barkley, the municipal court administrator, for taking it to the city human resources director. She said she was demoted from deputy court clerk to disposition clerk in November 2009, despite years of good job reviews.
Barkley declined to comment, but Harris, the 81-year-old former prosecutor, said almost all the allegations were false.
"I told dirty jokes," Harris said Tuesday during an interview. "They [women court employees] either laughed or ignored it, but never said anything about it."
Harris said he sometimes complimented a woman on her appearance, but never in an insulting manner. He denied trying to manipulate what cases he handled and said nobody ever complained about his behavior before the lawsuit. He said he never heard anything about the July 2009 complaint mentioned in the lawsuit.
McEwing said Municipal Court Judge Maurice Hilliard Jr. and Barkley knew about Harris' conduct. On one occasion, McEwing alleges, Hilliard called the employees into Harris’s office and said, “Okay, [Prosecutor Harris], you have one chance to tell your dirty, sexual joke.”
Harris had this memory of the incident: "I remember him saying that and everybody laughed and I didn't tell a joke."
Hilliard could not be reached at his court office and didn’t reply to an e-mail.
Harris said he worked decades as a full-time prosecutor in Atlanta, Alpharetta and Roswell municipal courts before taking a part-time post about nine years ago in Roswell. He said Roswell relieved him of his duties when it became known the lawsuit was going to be filed.
McEwing has worked for Roswell since 1998 and is still employed by the city. She is seeking unspecified damages. Her lawyer, Kimberly Martin, said other women may join the lawsuit.
"These city courts are very isolated and you have people who've been there for several decades and protect each other," Martin said.