$3M Payout Ordered In 'Criminal Minds' Sexual Harassment Case

LOS ANGELES, CA — A judge has approved a consent decree that requires ABC Signature LLC to pay a $3 million fine and conduct sexual harassment training in conjunction with the settlement of a lawsuit alleging the company looked the other way while a crew member for "Criminal Minds" inappropriately touched men on the set for years.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Maren Nelson signed the decree Monday after having taken it under submission in April. The decree is good for three years.

The lawsuit was brought in May 2020 by what was formerly known as the Department of Fair Employment and Housing and is now the California Department of Civil Rights, alleging that more than a dozen men were fired for complaining about the alleged behavior of the show's photography director, Gregory St. Johns.

"The parties agree that it is in the parties' best interests, and in the public interest to fully and finally resolve this matter on mutually agreeable terms, reaching a compromise and settlement of all claims without trial of any issues of fact or law ... and without resort to protracted litigation," the CRD attorneys state in their court papers.

The $3 million fine will be allocated at the CRD's discretion and include the department's $210,000 in attorneys' fees, the CRD's court papers state.

ABC Signature, formerly known as Touchstone Television Productions LLC, also must distribute company policies and complaint procedures regarding the prevention of harassment, discrimination, or retaliation, with explanations on how a person can complain and how to contact human resources personnel, the CRD court papers state.

ABC Signature must conduct training of non-supervisory and supervisory employees, and the company will have to maintain records of the training and send confirmation on an annual basis to the CRD that it took place, according to the CRD's court papers.

According to the suit, St. Johns regularly touched numerous men on the testicles, anus, butt cheeks, breasts and kissed or caressed their necks, shoulders and ears.

The suit also alleged St. Johns "doted" on certain men and treated them more favorably, provided they acquiesced to his attention. He allegedly retaliated against those who resisted by giving them the "silent treatment, social ostracism, unfair criticism, public shaming, and ultimately termination."

With the aid of studio executives, St. Johns created an "unchecked intimidating, hostile and offensive work environment on the set of `Criminal Minds,"' the suit alleges.

The studio executives fired more than a dozen men at St. Johns' request, including an entire electrical crew, after they resisted St. Johns' alleged harassment, the suit states. St. Johns was also sued, but later dropped as a defendant.

ABC and CBS co-produced the show, which aired on CBS from September 2005 until February 2020 and was about a group of criminal profilers who worked for the FBI as members of its Behavioral Analysis Unit.

City News Service