Employers can be held responsible for employee misconduct, attorney tells council’s investigative committee

An attorney hired by the Indianapolis City-County Council to review whether the Hogsett administration appropriately handled allegations of harassment told an investigative committee that employers can be held—in some circumstances—responsible for employee misconduct.

During the third meeting of the committee investigating allegations against the mayor’s chief of staff, attorneys from Atlanta-based law firm Fisher Phillips explained that supervisors and managers are held to a higher standard when it comes to reporting and modeling appropriate behavior in the workplace. Committee Chair Crista Carlino asked: “What if they don’t?”

In response, Danielle Kays, a partner at Fisher Phillips, said the employer could be liable for the supervisor’s conduct, even if it wasn’t reported beyond that supervisor or manager. Kays, who attended the meeting virtually, added that liability “depends on the facts” and emphasized throughout the meeting that Fisher Phillips has not yet reviewed the situation that brought them to work for Indianapolis.

Three former employees of the city of Indianapolis and Hogsett’s campaign alleged to media outlets over the summer that the mayor’s former chief of staff and campaign manager, Thomas Cook, abused his positions of power to groom and sexually harass them.

Cook, who helped Hogsett campaign as recently as 2023, has not responded to multiple requests for comment. He has not been charged with a crime. In a statement to IndyStar, he acknowledged that he “had consensual relationships that violated a trust placed in me,” but “at no time did I seek to use my professional position to further those personal relationships.”

In response, the Democrat-controlled council created an investigative committee to review he city’s response to the allegations and hired Fisher Phillips. The law firm has offices in Chicago in case in-person work is necessary, but Carlino told reporters it is likely attorneys will appear at committee hearings virtually for the near future to save money. Councilors required that the law firm be based outside of Indianapolis and have no political or financial ties to the city.

On Thursday, Kays and Max Bungert, an associate at the firm, laid out state, federal and local mechanisms and reporting bodies for discrimination and harassment as well as next steps for its investigation.

Fisher Phillips separated the work of the firm into three phases. The first, which is currently still in motion, is to review the city’s current processes and roles in the its Human Resources Department to determine their efficacy and whether they are aligned with state and federal laws. In the second phase, Fisher Phillips attorneys will analyze harassment complaints made against members of the Hogsett administration and campaign and determine if the responses complied with laws and regulations.

Fisher Phillips will prepare a written report and present it before the committee in the final phase. The investigative committee, which has subpoena power to interview witnesses, must provide a draft report to the council by Feb. 28.

The next meeting of the committee is scheduled for Dec. 4, but it could be canceled if Fisher Phillips attorneys determine that they have not collected enough information to share, council spokeswoman Sara Hindi told reporters.

Neither the firm nor the council has publicly said how much Fisher Phillips’ work will cost the city. However, a bid packet from Fisher Phillips includes three partners at a cost of $595 per hour, two associates at $495 per hour and a paralegal at $295 per hour. The administration has also signed a $152,000 contract for three years with a human resources software company for an anonymous reporting platform called Speakfully.