WWE Settles Sexual Harassment Lawsuit Filed By Former Employee

World Wrestling Entertainment settled a lawsuit brought against the company by former WWE Global Licensing Coordinator Fara D'Angelo yesterday, according to court records.

The presiding Judge ordered the case to be dismissed with the possibility it can be reopened by 1/13/11 if either side fails to keep their side of the settlement agreement.

In October 2008, D'Angelo, who worked for WWE from April 2004 through May 2006, filed a suit against the company, alleging that she was sexually harassed by then-Senior Director of International Consumer Products Alex Romer.

D'Angelo claimed that Romer pursued an intimate relationship with her almost immediately after she started working at WWE even though Romer was married, claiming that he would do so in person, via text messages, late night phone calls, etc.

In her lawsuit, D'Angelo alleged that another employee who witnessed the harassment told her to "switch jobs" and that when she took her complaint to WWE's Senior Director of Quality Assurance, Mike Archer, Archer also encouraged her to look for a new job.

D'Angelo claimed in her suit that she felt as if her job would be put in jeopardy if she continued to shed light on the harassment, so she resigned her position after informing WWE of the harassment and filed the lawsuit.

According to court documents filed during the course of the case, WWE offered D'Angelo a promotion and raise if she would stay with the company after she filed her harassment charges with the company's Human Resources department, rather than leave to start a new position with another company.

The settlement follows a 10/14 ruling by the Judge denying WWE's attempts to have the case thrown out, ruling that a jury could conceivably side with D'Angelo's claims based on the evidence presented to the court by both sides and that the case needed to go forward to trial.

Romer is no longer with World Wrestling Entertainment.

source: pwinsider.com