A pack of pornographic playing cards helped prompt a former Baldwin meter reader to sue her former bosses.

Fadra Andrews Mitchell last week sued in U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Kan., accusing the city of subjecting her to sexual harassment and fostering a hostile work environment that pushed her to resign after less than 10 months on the job.

She’s seeking $50,000 in damages to compensate for the emotional suffering and embarrassment she says she endured while working for Baldwin’s Public Works Department from December 2001 to September 2002.

Jeff Dingman, city administrator, said Friday he had not received formal notice of the lawsuit and could not comment on the specifics of Mitchell’s allegations.

Dingman said he hadn’t seen any evidence of pornography in the department since he started work for the city in July, or nearly a year after Mitchell’s resignation.

“It’s not something that you want to see in court,” Dingman said, “but I think that — through the history I’ve learned of it … I’m not terribly distressed at the moment, I guess.”

Mitchell’s attorney, Kay Huff, declined to comment about the case.

In her complaint, Mitchell alleges she was subjected to “inappropriate sexual materials” in the workplace. Among them: playing cards depicting nude men and women “engaged in various sexual activities,” cards that were used by co-workers during break times and that often generated “offensive remarks and discussion about male and female body parts.”

The games continued, Mitchell said, despite her complaints to superiors, including at least one boss who played in the games.

Wild cards?

At one point, Mitchell said, she left “upset and humiliated” from a room where card games were being played, before returning to explain that she had found the behavior “degrading and insulting” and being told she needed to “lighten up.”

Mitchell said she later threw away the playing cards and some nude calendars in the building, angering her co-workers. Co-workers then began to ignore her at work, while complaining about her work to supervisors.

Mitchell said her bosses advised her to “keep a low profile,” but that other pornographic materials — magazines on city property, plus nude calendars in the break room and in city vehicles — continued to be an issue at work.

“The unisex bathroom contained magazines with sexually explicit material,” Mitchell said in her complaint, adding that she knew of no disciplinary action taken against anyone at the city for their conduct.

In July 2002, after making repeated complaints to co-workers and bosses during her eight months on the job, Mitchell was issued a letter of reprimand by her supervisors, Mitchell said, “though there were no written complaints or counseling” in her personnel file.

She resigned Sept. 4, 2002.

Training ahead

Mitchell said she filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, accusing the city of discrimination.

The commission determined she had been subjected to a hostile work environment, Mitchell said, and it appeared she had been retaliated against for making complaints.

George Dixon, the commission’s regional director in the Kansas City area, said he could not comment on Mitchell’s case.

In her complaint, Mitchell said city officials were unaware of any time from 1999 to 2003 that city employees had received training with regard to dealing with issues of sexual harassment.

That could be about to change.

Dingman said that Peggy Nichols, city clerk, had been working last week to line up such training for city workers.

“It’s just something that we’ve needed to do,” Dingman said. “I do not know when the last time was that they did anything like this, but I know it’s not been since I’ve been here — and, just through history, it’s been a little while — so it’s time to do it.”