Dive Summary:

• A federal appeals court had ordered Consumers Energy in Michigan to pay a total of $1 million to Theresa Waldo after she faced repeated sexual harassment in the utility's transmission lines department.
• Evidence showed Waldo was forced to scale transmission towers on a cold, windy day without proper safety equipment, was locked in a portable restroom by her follow linemen, and ordered to clean tobacco spit and “pee like a man.” Some of her co-workers also brought explicit materials to the workplace. Waldo sued the utility after being cut from an apprentice program at the utility’s headquarters in Jackson, Michigan in 2005.
• In 2008, a jury in Grand Rapids federal court ruled in favor of Consumers Energy. But U.S. District Judge Janet Neff called for a second trial, saying the jury overlooked significant evidence in Waldo's favor.

From the article:

A second jury in 2010 awarded $7.9 million, but the amount was reduced to $300,000 by the judge, who cited a cap in law and other factors. The appeals court said Neff didn’t abuse her authority in ordering a second trial.

“Based on the witness testimony, no reasonable jury could have found that Consumers was not aware of the harassment. … This failure to respond to known complaints demonstrated that Consumers tolerated or condoned the harassing behavior, or, at the very least, that the company failed to take appropriate remedial action,” the court said.