Less-qualified men re-hired by Colorado’s court system, lawsuit alleges

Two longtime female employees in Colorado’s court system were given fewer opportunities than their less-qualified and less-experienced male colleagues, according to a lawsuit the women filed Thursday.

Both women, Danielle Stecco and Tracy Blea, were laid off in 2020 during a restructuring of the State Court Administrator’s Office. Employees were told they would have the opportunity to re-apply for positions and given priority, but the court administrators did not re-hire Stecco or Blea and instead hired less-qualified men.

The courts also allowed a man who had been placed on administrative leave for inappropriate behavior to keep his job while Blea and Stecco — the most senior employees in the Information Technology Systems Division — lost theirs. Neither woman had any recent disciplinary history, the lawsuit states.

“Plaintiffs both applied for other positions to continue working in (State Court Administrator’s Office), but did not even receive an interview, despite being qualified for these open jobs and having significantly greater seniority than the people who were eventually hired,” the lawsuit states.

The lawsuit filed in Denver District Court is the latest addition to a mounting series of allegations of sexism and sexual harassment in the state court administration.

An independent investigation into the department in 2022 found no “systemic problem of harassment,” though 21% of employees who answered a survey reported they had witnessed gender-based discrimination, sexual harassment or retaliation while on the job and another 17% said they’d experienced such mistreatment.

The investigation also found employees feared retaliation for reporting misconduct. Female employees generally had a less positive experience working for the department than men, the investigation found. Female judicial employees who spoke to The Denver Post said male managers favored women based on their looks or how they dressed, men were held to a lower standard than women, and women in leadership perpetuated harmful or sexist attitudes.

Stecco and Blea experienced discrimination during their more than 20 years working for the state courts, their lawsuit states.

“Throughout their careers with (State Court Administrator’s Office), plaintiffs were regularly discriminated against, and subjected to a toxic and hostile work environment, because of their gender,” the lawsuit states.

Male managers “regularly baselessly called Ms. Stecco ‘hysterical’ and ‘dramatic,’ while praising men who were similarly assertive. SCAO managers regularly refused to take Ms. Stecco’s opinions seriously, while adopting male employees’ ideas,” the lawsuit alleges.

A spokesman for the courts on Friday declined to comment on the lawsuit because the department does not comment on pending litigation.

During the 2020 layoffs, more women were laid off than men, the lawsuit states. The percentage of women working in the two departments affected by layoffs decreased from 44% to 32%, according to the lawsuit.

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