A St. Cloud liquor store owner agreed to pay a former employee $30,000 after the Minnesota Department of Human Rights found probable cause of sexual harassment.
Brian Fanfulik, owner of Liquor Pig, allegedly subjected an employee to "gestures that were evocative of masturbation and oral sex, and the slapping of the charging party's buttocks" and repeatedly told her they should have sex, according to a memorandum of probable cause from the Human Rights Department made public last week.
In her complaint, the employee said Fanfulik threatened to charge her with theft if she pursued a sexual harassment claim against him. She said he falsely accused stealing time by taking smoke breaks, making personal phone calls and having lunch with her boyfriend.
The employee quit after the threats. The Department of Human Rights determined the "work conditions were so objectively intolerable" that she was forced to quit.
When contacted by the department, Fanfulik took issue with the employees performance, but "largely ignored" the sexual harassment claims, the memorandum said.
An employee at Liquor Pig said Fanfulik was not available for comment.
