The state has agreed to pay $500,000 to settle a lawsuit brought by a former officer at the Eastern Oregon Correctional Institution in Pendleton who alleged she was sexually harassed by a fellow employee. 

PENDLETON — The state of Oregon will pay $500,000 to a former officer of Eastern Oregon Correctional Institution in Pendleton to settle her federal lawsuit alleging a hostile work environment and retaliation for reporting a sexual assault.

Ashley Longhorn, of Hermiston, in August 2021 sued the state corrections department and former corrections officer Matthew Klimek in a case that was to go to trial Monday, June 5, according to court information. Longhorn’s attorney, Caitlin Mitchell, of Eugene, announced in a written statement the Oregon Department of Corrections instead agreed to pay Longhorn.

Court records show the funds will come from the Oregon Department of Administrative Services/Risk Management.

Longhorn was 24 when she began working as a correctional officer at the prison in 2020, according to the statement from Mitchell. A few months after she started, she reported a more senior male corrections officer had sexually assaulted her at his home.

The federal lawsuit identified that officer as Klimek.

The Department of Corrections began to investigate what it was told was a culture of predatory behavior among male corrections officers toward new female staff, according to Mitchell. Longhorn’s work environment “became riddled with hostile rumors and name-calling toward her,” the attorney stated, but the corrections department “refused to take action against the harassment and rumors, and Longhorn was ultimately forced to resign.”

State records show she left the job in May 2021, and the state discharged Klimek as a corrections officer in January 2022.

“The Department of Corrections failed to keep me safe after I made a report of sexual assault,” Longhorn said in the statement. “I hope my case will spur a change in the culture of predatory behavior towards female employees at EOCI, so that what happens to me never happens to another woman.”

“This case is an important reminder that women workers, particularly those in male-dominated fields, continue to face sexual harassment, discrimination, and retaliation,” according to Mitchell.

State court records show a Umatilla County grand jury in December 2020 indicted Klimek on several sex crimes charges against Longhorn, including first-degree unlawful sexual penetration, first-degree sexual abuse and strangulation. Deputy Umatilla County District Attorney Jameson Hayes dismissed the case in March 2021, citing a lack of evidence.