Another Settlement in Fresno

This just in: Fresno State will pay $125,000 to former men's basketball secretary Iris Levesque in settlement of her sex discrimination lawsuit against the university. We blogged about Levesque's case when she filed last December, claiming that the university's purported "financial reasons" for laying her off were really pretext for punitive motives for complaining about the hostile and discriminatory atmosphere of the basketball office under then-head coach Ray Lopes.

Under the terms of the settlement, Levesque will be hired as a receptionist/accounts receivable clerk in the university's housing department. She will also be hired retroactively for a three-month period by the by the Fresno State Athletic Corporation so that her retirement account will vest. She will also be paid $86,000, a figure that includes salary for the retroactive employment period, and her lawyers will receive $39,000.

The Fresno Bee notes that this brings Fresno State's total potential payout in sex in discrimination lawsuits involving athletic department employees to slightly more than $16 million.

• $4.52 million jury award to former volleyball coach Lindy Vivas; an appeal is pending.
  
• $3.5 million settlement with former associate athletic director Diane Milutinovich.
• $7.3 million to fund a $9 million settlement with former women's basketball coach Stacy Johnson-Klein (Fresno State's contribution is discounted because the payments are spread out over 25 years).
  
• $605,000 settlement with softball coach Margie Wright, the only case with no lawsuit.
• $125,000 settlement with Levesque.

[Thanks a lot to DM and DW, who each promptly alerted me to the story!]