Woman Said to Have Felt Hostility at Work After Complaining About Cain

[joeybee12]

WASHINGTON — One of the women who accused the Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain of sexual harassment while working for him at the National Restaurant Association in the late 1990s complained that the workplace turned hostile after she alleged that he made advances toward her during a work-related outing, several people familiar with her account at the time said in interviews.

The advances were said to have taken place during a festive night in which Mr. Cain and several younger staff members drank until late in the evening, and his flirty banter with the woman crossed over into propositions that she leave with him, these people said, speaking in separate interviews and on the condition of anonymity.

One person with direct knowledge of her account at the time said that the woman — roughly two decades Mr. Cain’s junior and serving in a lower-level job — rebuffed him but that he continued to make advances. “She was uncomfortable, and it was inappropriate from the start,” this person said. “He was persistent.”

Mr. Cain has repeatedly denied that he did anything inappropriate, though he has acknowledged that at least one severance payment was made to an accuser. His campaign did not respond to a request for comment on the new accounts of the incident on Thursday evening.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/04/us/politics/woman-said-to-feel-work-hostility-after-alleged-encounter-with-cain.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&hpw&adxnnlx=1320419395-Wv0n16R3tK1BryuJCA28xw