Earlier today, Herman Cain acknowledged that he had been accused of sexual harassment while CEO of the National Restaurant Association, but claimed to have been unaware of any settlement reached to resolve the matter. Though it is not likely that he’d be unaware of such an agreement, according to sexual harassment lawyers consulted by the Examiner, it would be theoretically possible.
Appearing at the National Press Club this afternoon, Cain said, “I was falsely accused of sexual harassment, and when the charges were brought, as the leader of the organization, I recused myself, and allowed my general counsel and my human resource officer to deal with the situation. And it was concluded after a thorough investigation that it had no basis. As far as a settlement, I am unaware of any settlement. I hope it wasn’t for much, because I didn’t do anything. But the fact of the matter is that I’m unaware of a settlement that came out of that accusation.”
Recommended Stories
Los Angeles-based attorney David Kadue represents businesses defending themselves against sexual harassment suits and co-authored the book Sexual Harassment in Employment Law. He said it would be surprising, but not impossible, for Cain to be unaware of any settlement.
“It sounds entirely appropriate to me that he would have recused himself from any decision making role, given that he’s accused,” Kadue said, noting a natural conflict of interest if he had to approve a settlement. “He’d be spending the association’s money to be getting himself off of the hook.”
Kadue also explained that Cain wouldn’t have needed to sign off on any agreement as the person being accused. Typically, he explained, when sexual harassment claims are made, legally it pits the accuser against the business or organization, not the individual accused of wrongdoing.
Though it’s plausible that he may not have been informed about the outcome if a small dollar amount were involved, Kadue said that, “It would be surprising to me if he weren’t at least informed after the fact on how the manner was taken care of.”
George Chuzi, a Washington-based lawyer who represents employees in sexual harassment cases, had a similar take.
“If he actually took the decision making responsibility out of his hands and gave it to the general counsel and HR, and said, ‘Do what you gotta do with this, and I don’t want know,’ I can see it,” he said. “It’s possible.”
But he said it’s hard to believe that if Cain, as he claims, knew about the accusations, knew that they were false, knew about the investigation and knew that it absolved him, that he wouldn’t know about any settlement.
“If he knows that much, it’s not plausible that he wouldn’t know the outcome,” Chuzi said. “I find it hard to believe that he wouldn’t have at least have known, and if he’s at all curious, had at least asked at some point down the line.”
After I spoke with Chuzi and Kadue, Byron York reported that Cain amended his statement on the settlement in an interview with Fox’s Greta van Susteren.
“My general counsel said this started out where she and her lawyer were demanding a huge financial settlement…I don’t remember a number…But then he said because there was no basis for this, we ended up settling for what would have been a termination settlement.” When van Susteren asked how much money was involved, Cain said. “Maybe three months’ salary. I don’t remember. It might have been two months. I do remember my general counsel saying we didn’t pay all of the money they demanded.”
This means he’s either changed his story about whether he was aware of the settlement at the time, or he found out about the settlement in the intervening hours between his National Press Club appearance and interview with van Susteren. If it’s the latter, and he first learned about the settlement that was made in the 1990s this afternoon, then we’re still left with the issue of whether it was realistic that he was unaware at the time.
