The president of a major health IT consulting firm serving Epic Systems customers is facing charges of sexually harassing and then retaliating against an employee by firing her after she complained.
A municipal administrative panel in Madison, Wisconsin, this week is hearing the case against Drew Madden, president of Madison-based Nordic Consulting Partners, local weekly newspaper Isthmus reported.
Madden has denied the charges, brought by Natalee Cruse, who joined the company in 2012 and was promoted to vice president of marketing less than a year later. Cruse was fired in February 2014, a few months after she complained about Madden sending her a string of suggestive text messages, taking an “upskirt” photo of her and making other unwanted advances.
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Madden’s attorneys have argued that Cruse “welcomed, and encouraged” the boss’ behavior.
Cruse’s complaint with the City of Madison’s Equal Opportunities Division, which she filed in April 2014, said that she shared details of Madden’s behavior with a female co-worker following a particularly uncomfortable meeting with Madden in September 2013. That woman, the wife of Nordic co-founder and then-CEO Mark Bakken, told her husband.
Two days later, according to the filing, Bakken, who now runs another health IT startup, met with Cruse and told her he had seen Madden make sexually suggestive comments to other women in the office. However, Cruse said that Bakken ignored her request not to tell Madden she had accused him of sexual harassment.
On July 16, 2014, the Equal Opportunities Division determined that there was “probable cause to believe discrimination had occurred,” leading to this week’s multi-day hearing.
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