Guthrie Theater investigating sexual harassment allegations

MINNEAPOLIS (KMSP) - The Guthrie Theater says it is looking into sexual harassment allegations made by a former employee in a Facebook post. 

In a public Facebook post earlier this week, Molly Diers said she is resigning from her dream job as a carpenter in the Guthrie scene shop after three and a half years because it was a hostile work environment for women.

Diers claimed her manager "breeds a sexist culture and continues to encourage it", stood by as women were "mocked and belittled" and didn't notice "off color jokes and behavior" in the workplace.

Diers says she was touched inappropriately several times and on one occasion, her boss physically blocked her from going to human resources to report one such assault.

The Guthrie’s artistic director, Joseph Haj, says executive leadership became aware of the allegations this week and immediately took action.

In a statement, Haj says the theater has “engaged an independent party to launch a full and complete investigation” into the allegations. 

But an attorney for Diers says she started reporting the behavior in 2015, but the steps the theater took either didn't work or didn't do anything at all.

Full Guthrie Theater statement

"Over the last two years we’ve been actively working to address cultural and workplace issues to ensure a workplace where everyone is valued and respected. This work has been done throughout the organization, and specifically in our scene shop, based on concerns that were raised by employees.

"This week, executive leadership was made aware of a specific allegation of unwanted and inappropriate behavior, and that an employee was prevented from reporting that behavior to Human Resources.  We take this allegation very seriously. We have moved immediately to take action, meeting with board leadership and engaging an independent party to launch a full and complete investigation.

"We are committed to learning all of the facts and to taking appropriate actions. We remain fully committed to achieving meaningful cultural change within our organization."