A top NYC headhunting firm has been fined $155,000 by a city agency over allegations that an exec sexually assaulted a colleague and did cocaine at work

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• Wegman Partners, a prestigious NYC headhunting firm, got hit with a $155,000 civil penalty for violating workplace sexual harassment protections. The fine was the second highest in the history of the New York City Commission on Human Rights.
• The commission has ordered $2.2 million in penalties for violations of sexual harassment policies since the start of the #MeToo movement.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Wegman Partners, a prestigious legal headhunting firm in New York, was hit with a $155,000 civil penalty for violating workplace sexual harassment protections by the the New York City Commission on Human Rights.

The city agency settled a lawsuit against the firm earlier this week, handing Wegman Partners the second-highest fine for sexual harassment in the NYC Commission's 57-year history.

Veronica McILraith, a former managing director at Wegman Partners, filed a complaint in 2017 for sexual harassment conducted by her former boss, Scott Legg.

In the complaint, McILraith accused Legg of groping her breasts, sending her lewd drawings, and trying to open her sweater. In one instance, McILraith describes how Legg called her a "b----" while throwing chairs after she turned down his offer for lunch.

Additionally, McILraith's complaint accused Legg of using cocaine and drinking alcohol in his office.

The Commission on Human Rights has ordered $2.2 million in penalties throughout the city for violations of workplace sexual harassment protections since the start of the #MeToo movement two years ago. The commission has since created and launched a city-wide interactive sexual harassment training that has reached 350,000 New Yorkers thus far.

Business Insider has contacted Wegman Partners for details. The firm previously told Business Insider they had fired Legg.

The #MeToo movement helped destigmatize discussing workplace misconduct, according to a survey conducted by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and the software company SAP.

One third of surveyed workers say they have talked about sexual misconduct at work over the past year, and a third of US employees changed their office behavior in the wake of the #MeToo movement.

A little more than 3 in 10 surveyed men, however, view the #MeToo movement unfavorably. An earlier survey found 60% of male supervisors felt more afraid to have one-on-one meetings with female employees after the movement.

"No woman should have to experience this sort of harassment at work. Ms. McIlraith is standing up," her attorney, Zoe Salzman of Emery Celli Brinckerhoff & Abady LLP, told the New York Post. "Other women are standing up. And more will follow."