Fry's to pay $2.3M in Renton sexual harassment settlement

Federal officials say electronics retailer Fry's will pay a $2.3 million settlement after the retaliatory firing of a supervisor who alerted the company's legal department that one of his employees was being sexually harassed.

U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission general counsel P. David Lopez says Ka Lam was fired from his post at Fry's Renton, Wash., store despite being consistently commended for his work. Lopez says Fry's bosses told Lam his performance had declined.

A phone message with Fry's representatives was not immediately returned.

Lam had alerted Fry's legal department that an assistant manager continuously sent sexually charged text messages to a 20-year-old subordinate saleswoman. Lam was fired in 2007. The woman was fired in 2008.

Lopez says the $2.3 million settlement follows Fry's destroying evidence and "abusive" court practices.