Rick Callender, CEO of Silicon Valley water company Valley Water, has received a $512,886 payout just days before the findings of a sexual harassment case against him were released. The board of the company agreed to allow Callender to serve a year as a special advisor, but the sole vote against this agreement was that it violated the district's employment contract provisions. The investigation revealed that Callender violated the agency's Anti-Discrimination, Harassment and Retaliation Policy, which included inappropriate text messages, photos, and journal entries from three district employees in 2024 alleging that he sent inappropriate texts, made inappropriate comments about the appearance of other coworkers and talked about his own sexual and romantic activities. Callender is currently in the middle of two lawsuits filed by the NAACP alleging he created a hostile work environment and discriminatory conduct towards black female executives.