After eight years of appeals and retrials, a U.S. District judge ruled last week that no further court action is possible in a class-action harassment suit against the District of Columbia Department of Corrections. As a result, the payout of $9.6 million distributed between approximately 130 current and former female employees of the department could begin as early as the next two weeks. The female employees who brought the suit---many of whom quit their jobs or ended up on workers' compensation for severe depression and anxiety as a result of their harassment---suffered verbal abuse, grabbing and other physical harassment, and even coerced intercourse that in some cases resulted in pregnancies.
See "D.C. Payments To Conclude Suit Against Corrections", SERGE F. KOVALESKI, The Washington Post, January 21, 2002