County Paid $300K to Make Public Defender’s Sex Harassment Suit Go Away

JOLIET, IL — Will County paid $300,000 to settle a sexual harassment lawsuit brought by two assistant public defenders against their boss, who has since been replaced.

Patch obtained the confidential settlement agreement between the county and former assistant public defenders Kate Flynn and Gail Bembnister. Flynn and Bembnister sued Will County Public Defender Frank Astrella in October 2014.

Astrella, the Public Defender since September 2008, made “sexually derogatory and inappropriate comments in the workplace,” according to the lawsuit.

Astrella also, “in the presence of” Bembnister, “or at times directed to” her, made sexually suggestive comments about women’s clothing and bodies, and made “lewd and inappropriate comments related to and about sex,” “inquiries into employees’ intimate sexual lives and histories,” and “flirtatious comments to female employees and state’s attorneys,” the suit said.

Astrella also allegedly punished Flynn for getting pregnant by giving her an unfavorable work assignment.
Astrella resigned from the public defender’s office and was replaced by veteran local attorney Gerald Kielian earlier this year.

As part of the confidential settlement agreement, Flynn and Bembnister resigned from the public defender’s office July 1. They can no longer work for the county.

While the county had to cough up $300,000, the law firm that represented Flynn and Bembnister, Malkinson & Halpern, was given 106,509.58 of it. Flynn and Bembnister get to split the remainder.

The settlement contains a non-disparagement clause naming not only Flynn, Bembnister and Astrella, but also Kielian, the chief investigator for the public defender’s office, an administrative assistant, and all managers and supervisors from the public defender’s office.