A former employee of the Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services has filed a complaint with the Kansas Human Rights Commission, accusing a former deputy secretary at the agency of sexual harassment.
In the complaint, Jean Holthaus alleges she was subjected to sexually inappropriate questioning, comments and conversations between March and August of 2011.
Holthaus announced her resignation from SRS on July 15, 2011. Her last day at the agency was Aug. 1, 2011.
At the time, Holthaus had been the coordinator for a program aimed at helping problem gamblers. She had held the position for almost three and a half years.
She referred questions about her complaint to her attorney, Rebekah Phelps-Davis.
Repeated attempts to reach Phelps-Davis for comment were unsuccessful.
A source familiar with the complaint identified the deputy secretary as Pedro Moreno, former director of disability and mental health services at SRS.
Moreno resigned his position in late January, about a month after then-SRS Secretary Rob Siedlecki announced he was leaving the agency to return to Florida to oversee substance abuse and mental health programs for the Florida Department of Children and Families.
Prior to his coming to Kansas, Moreno had been deputy director for operations at the state Agency for Persons with Disabilities in Florida.
While at SRS, Moreno and Siedlecki championed the department’s campaigns to strengthen marriage and promote fatherhood.
Angela de Rocha, a spokeswoman for SRS, declined comment on the complaint. “That’s a personnel matter,” she said. “I can’t say anything about that.”
Attempts to reach Moreno, who lives in Lawrence, were unsuccessful.
Holthaus was awarded unemployment benefits shortly before Moreno left the agency.
In Kansas, allegations of workplace discrimination are filed with the state’s human rights commission, which, oftentimes, refers them to Kansas Legal Services for mediation.
Many of the complaints are settled during the mediation process. Those that aren’t may be investigated and assigned to the one of the commission’s six members.
If the investigation points to there being “probable cause,” the commissioner will propose a settlement between the employer and employee. The parties may accept or reject the proposed settlement.
An employee who rejects the proposed settlement is free to take their case to court.
The proposed settlements are confidential.