Carol Kline, who worked at the division for seven years, said the agency's discriminatory and retaliatory actions ultimately led to her dismissal.

She earlier had filed three complaints of discrimination and harassment with several other women in the office. Those complaints, filed between 1999 and 2003, were upheld by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, after which then-director Joe Gallegos resigned.

However, even after Gallegos left, Kline says the discrimination continued and she was fired in 2005 for filing her original complaints. The EEOC sided with her, granting her the right to sue the agency.

Kline said her former supervisor, Harold Stephens, sexually harassed her. She said he directly made comments to her such as "Come sit on my lap and see what comes up," and, "You can fondle my files anytime."

In an earlier interview, Stephens did not specifically acknowledge or deny making the alleged comments.

"I have my own sense of humor," he told The Tribune in an interview last month. "Not everyone knows what harassment is, and you don't know until someone raises the issue."

Sherrie Hayashi, Utah labor commissioner and former UALD director, did not comment and referred questions to the Attorney General's Office, which is handling the case. Attorneys there have not yet received the complaint, which was filed Monday in federal court.

UALD leaders prior to the filing of the lawsuit said Kline's work was not up to standards and that firing her was the only solution.

"We needed her to write well-reasoned, judicially sound write-ups, and that was impossible at the time for her," said Stephens, who has been reassigned from his previous role supervising investigators to working on housing complaints. "Termination was the only way to go."

Kline acknowledges that she was placed on corrective action, meaning she needed guidance in writing and analyzing. However, in previous corrective actions, she received successful ratings along with bonuses for productivity and achievement. In the end, Kline said, the corrective action was how she was forced out of her job.

"They set me up to fail. I didn't receive the mentoring I needed, I wasn't allowed to enroll in the training I needed and I had contradictory advice from several people," she said.

She and her attorney attempted to mediate with the UALD but negotiations broke down, she said. She is seeking $200,000 in damages as well as back pay. She also requested an injunction to make the UALD stop violating the workplace rights it is charged with enforcing.

"I wish it were an irony," said Kline's attorney, Russell Monahan. "It's more of a tragedy."

smcfarland@sltrib.com