Legislative staffer sues Nebraska Legislature for response to sexual harassment report

LINCOLN — A legislative staffer filed a complaint against the Nebraska Legislature, accusing lawmakers of violating their workplace harassment policy in their response to an alleged groping incident last year.

The complaint, filed in Lancaster District Court Wednesday, centers on an end-of-session party in 2025, where a legislative staffer claims former state Sen. Dan McKeon of Amherst made a sexually charged remark, saying “he hoped that she wasn’t going to Hawaii to ‘get lei’d’” and then touched her buttocks. McKeon denied any inappropriate conduct.

McKeon has since resigned from the Legislature as a result of the accusation and faced a Class III misdemeanor charge for disturbing the peace. His criminal case was dismissed in August after he successfully completed a court diversion program.

The plaintiff in the complaint is labeled Jane Doe, and court documents note that she fears “retaliation, retribution, and harassment” if her identity is exposed. The Examiner is not publishing her name because it is the policy of States Newsroom and the Examiner not to identify people who say they have been abused unless they wish to talk publicly.

In the complaint, the staffer alleged that even prior to the sine die party on May 29, 2025, McKeon would regularly visit the office she worked in and make sexual jokes to her co-worker loud enough for her to hear, which she said were unwelcome and interfered with her work.

After the interaction at the sine die party, the staffer told her boss about the incident the following Monday, June 1, and filed an informal sexual harassment complaint to the Legislature’s Executive Board on June 2. Board members instructed McKeon to have no further contact with the staffer during their investigation, according to the complaint.

Despite this instruction, the complaint alleges that McKeon attended a legislative party that the staffer helped coordinate that same day and continually positioned himself to sit facing her. The complaint described his conduct as “threatening, harassing, intimidating and retaliatory.”

On July 29, the staffer filed a formal sexual harassment complaint to the Executive Board.

According to the Legislature’s workplace harassment policy, the board must respond to a harassment complaint no later than 45 days after the report is submitted, or 45 days after the date a formal investigation begins following an unsuccessful effort at an informational resolution, whichever is later. If the alleged harasser is a member of the Legislature, the chair must promptly appoint a special panel made up of three lawmakers plus the chair to determine the appropriate action.

In early September, the staffer learned that the panel had not yet met and had not conducted an investigation into her report, which would violate the policy. After learning this, she filed a report with the Nebraska State Patrol, which charged McKeon with misdemeanor public indecency on Oct. 31. Those charges were later downgraded to disturbing the peace.

Nebraska state senator cited for ‘public indecency’ during session-ending party

The special panel’s report, which found that McKeon had violated the Legislature’s workplace harassment policy, was not issued until Oct. 28, nearly 45 days late, according to the complaint. The report directed McKeon to take several corrective actions, including prohibiting him from having any communication with or about the staffer.

Despite this, the complaint alleges, McKeon and his attorney Perry Pirsch made several false and defamatory statements about the staffer, both in the media and in private. The complaint further alleges that Executive Board members were aware of these statements and were aware of McKeon’s inappropriate conduct prior to the sine die party, and failed to take appropriate remedial action — another violation of the policy.

The staffer claims she was subjected to gender-based discrimination and a hostile work environment through this process. Among her requests are that the Legislature pay her past, present and future compensatory damages, and that the Legislature be prohibited from “any further discrimination or retaliation” against her.

State Sen. Ben Hansen of Blair, who chairs the Executive Board, declined to comment on the pending litigation.