Wisconsin County and Zoo Group to Pay $2.8 Million to Settle Sexual Assault, Retaliation Allegations

Dane County and the Association of Zoos and Aquariums must pay a combined $2.8 million to a former UW-Madison researcher who accused Vilas Zoo Director Ronda Schwetz of sexually assaulting him during a 2018 work trip to Seattle and later retaliating against him for reporting it, according to the final draft of the civil suit’s settlement obtained by the Wisconsin State Journal.

Schwetz and the AZA do not have to admit wrongdoing under the settlement, but court documents from the case, filed in King County Superior Court in Seattle, show Schwetz made other sexual advances toward men in a bar during the AZA conference in Seattle, which led to a verbal reprimand by AZA leadership.

The AZA then failed to act after it learned that Schwetz sabotaged the researcher’s employment at a different zoo, according to a letter to members drafted by the AZA under the terms of the settlement, reached in December.

Read the source article at kenoshanews.com