Ex-staffer sues Farenthold’s office for hostile work environment

A woman who served as Rep. Blake Farenthold’s (R-Texas) communications director is suing the lawmaker’s office, alleging it was a hostile working environment where she faced gender discrimination.

Lauren Greene, who worked for Farenthold for about 18 months before being fired in July, said she was dismissed after she complained about being mistreated by his chief of staff. She also claims in her lawsuit that Farenthold made a series of inappropriate, sexual remarks.

{mosads}She alleges that she was fired for raising her concerns with the congressman, according to the lawsuit, which was first reported by the National Law Journal.

The lawsuit alleges that Farenthold told Greene “he was estranged from his wife and that he had not had sex with her in years.”

It claims the congressman would “regularly drink to excess” and would flirt at parties, so that his staffers felt they had to “keep him out of trouble” at receptions.

The lawsuit also includes a third charge for alleged retaliation after Greene purportedly complained about discrimination.

Greene is asking that the court provide her with injunctive relief and monetary damages.

A Farenthold spokesman said the office will respond to the allegations via the legal system.

“As is the case with any pending legal situation, the congressman cannot comment on the specifics of the complaint, however, it goes without saying that both the congressman and the members of his staff who are included in this complaint have a very different view of the allegations than Ms. Greene. For the record, the office did not and does not discriminate based on sex or any other unlawful factor,” Farenthold spokesman Kurt Bardella said in a statement.

“The Congressman is eager to respond to Ms. Greene’s allegations through the appropriate legal process and is confident that once all of the facts are revealed, he will be cleared of any wrongdoing,” he added.

The attorney who filed the lawsuit, Leslie Alderman III, declined to comment.

Farenthold’s executive secretary allegedly told Greene that the congressman had “sexual fantasies” and “wet dreams” about Greene. The lawsuit says this made Greene uncomfortable and that it led to Greene avoiding one-on-one meetings with Farenthold.

The lawsuit also alleges that Farenthold chief of staff Bob Haueter knew of Farenthold’s interest in Greene and treated her poorly.

The lawsuit alleges that once Greene was promoted to the communications director position, Haueter made unreasonable demands about her meeting with news outlets in Farenthold’s district. It also alleges that Haueter excluded her from a senior staff meeting that the previous communications director had been invited to.

It claims that in a meeting in June, Haueter asked Farenthold’s executive secretary to tell Greene to go home and change her shirt because he said he could see her nipples through the garment. The lawsuit says that Farenthold then said Greene “could show her nipples whenever she wanted” to the executive secretary.

The lawsuit says that on June 12, Greene had a breakfast meeting with Farenthold to discuss her concerns with Haueter’s behavior. The lawsuit says Farenthold told her Haueter “was known to be condescending toward women on the staff, and then paid empty, lip service encouragement for [Greene] to stand up for herself.”

Greene claims in the lawsuit that she was fired “less than one month” after this meeting.

Farenthold was elected to his seat in 2010 as part of the Republican wave that gave the party a House majority. Before running for office, he practiced law and ran a computer consulting firm.