BELLINGHAM, WA (MyBellinghamNow.com) – A Bellingham law firm has been ordered to pay up after two former employees reported being sexually harassed at work.
Following a bench trial earlier this month, Whatcom County Superior Court Judge Lee Grochmal ruled that Allen Law Firm owes the former workers $1.3 million in damages. The employees were fired in 2022 after numerous years spent working at the firm.
Court documents state that owner Craig Allen routinely made physical contact with employees, which occasionally turned inappropriate and unwanted. Witnesses who worked at Allen Law Firm corroborated the sometimes raunchy nature of certain workplace conversations.
Others testified during the trial that they believed the fired employees were trying to draw attention to their newly formed law firm.
Judge Grochmal ruled that she found the former workers’ testimonies “credible,” awarding one of them $800,000 and the other $500,000.
