Louisiana PSC candidate named in 2013 sexual harassment suit
John Young seeks District 1 seat in May 16 GOP primary
One of the candidates for a seat on the Louisiana Public Service Commission was named as a defendant in a 2013 employment discrimination and sexual harassment lawsuit when he was Jefferson Parish president.
John Young is running for the District 1 seat on the Louisiana PSC in the May 16 Republican primary. His opponents in the race are state Representative Stephanie Hilferty, Wallace “Wayne” Cooper, John Mason and Mark Wright. Connie Norris is running unopposed in the Democratic primary. Incumbent Eric Skrmetta (R-Metairie) is running for U.S. Senate.
In the 2013 lawsuit, Young was listed as a defendant in the complaint filed by Heather Hilliard, who had worked as a senior administrative assistant for Jefferson Parish from December 2010 to May 2012.
According to court documents, Jefferson Parish Deputy Chief Operating Officer Richard Hart had allegedly directed “sexually offensive language and … vulgar comments” toward Hilliard over a period of several months in 2011. Despite Hilliard reporting the alleged sexual harassment to Jefferson Parish supervisors on multiple occasions, Young assigned some of Hilliard’s job responsibilities in June 2011 to Hart, forcing her to work directly under him, where she says she was allegedly subjected to further harassment from Hart.
After eventually investigating the allegations, Jefferson Parish issued a report in February 2012 concluding Hart had engaged in “gender harassment,” and Hart resigned shortly thereafter. But in early March 2012, Hilliard received her first employment evaluation that “was deeply critical of her job performance.” She was subsequently terminated.
The report also used the phrase “booty call” in reference to after-hours phone calls made by Young to female employees.
Hilliard eventually received a settlement from Jefferson Parish for about $200,000.
Young spent nearly two terms on the Jefferson Parish Council from 2004 to 2010 before becoming Parish President until 2016. In 2015, he unsuccessfully ran for lieutenant governor. He served as an assistant Jefferson Parish attorney from 1997 to 2024.
After the lawsuit was filed, Hilliard said she suspected Young and other Jefferson Parish officers were using personal email accounts to discuss parish business as a way of avoiding to share such correspondence through public records requests.
“I strongly suspect John Young is hiding something in personal emails that deal with public business,” Hilliard told the parish council in a May 2013 meeting. “When people ask for public records, we expect the parish to provide or direct production of the documents regarding public business no matter where public officials decide to keep it.”
Young denied the allegation.
Hilliard’s case and settlement was brought back up a few years later when Young unsuccessfully ran for another term as parish president.
During that 2019 campaign, Young’s campaign sent out a mailer referring to eventual winner Cynthia Lee Sheng as “Cyanide Cynthia” after she voted to expand cyanide storage facilities at Cornerstone Chemical in 2018.
But, Lee Sheng countered by noting Young had attended a groundbreaking ceremony at the plant in 2013 and called it a positive for the parish. She even held up a photo of Young at the plant during a televised debate.
At that debate, Young touched Lee Sheng’s shoulder in an attempt to keep her front interrupting him.
“You don’t have to touch me, Mr. Young,” she told Young. Some linked that comment as a reference to the Hilliard lawsuit.
But in mailers and in ads, Lee Cheng accused Young of firing Hilliard for complaining. Young countered by saying he ordered the investigation as soon as he heard of the claims and noted Hart’s resignation.
The five-member Louisiana PSC primarily regulates utility companies along with a few other industries such as towing and moving van companies. Its members have the power to set rates for electricity and approve or deny large infrastructure projects such as new power plants and intrastate pipelines.
The District 1 seat represents large swaths of Orleans, Jefferson, St. Tammany, Tangipahoa, Plaquemines, St. Bernard, St. Charles, Livingston, Washington and St. Helena parishes.