(Editor's note: Trigger warning--some graphic descriptions of actions of a sexual nature are spelled out as part of the lawsuit. Readers are warned.)
The US Department of Justice has filed a lawsuit against Cumberland County over sexual harassment and retaliation of employees related to the operation of the County Solid Waste Department and actions by the former director Mike Harvel.
The investigation of the incidents began with a complaint to the EEOC and eventually was turned over to the Department of Justice who filed the suit on Monday March 8.
Ten women are included in the Federal lawsuit that were the recipient of improper actions by Harvel acted as the supervisor over the women and the operation of the recycling center and the county convenience centers. The victims names are not listed in the lawsuit, but are identified by pseudonyms
The suit outlines the actions of Harvel and the failure to act by the county to stop the harassment along with the lack of a working sexual harassment policy.
The EEOC investigated the four charges of discrimination and found reasonable cause to believe that Cumberland County violated Title VII when it discriminated against the Charging Parties and similarly situated employees. When the EEOC’s attempt to conciliate the charges failed, it referred the charges to the Department of Justice.
The facts of the case investigation are spelled out in the suit.
Between at least February 2015 and February 2018, Harvel subjected female employees of the Solid Waste Department, including the four Charging Parties and six similarly situated employees, to unwelcome, non-consensual sexual contact such as kissing and grabbing their breasts, thighs, buttocks, and vaginas, both over and under their clothes; unwelcome sexual advances such as propositioning women for oral or penetrative sex and forcing women to view or touch his penis; and unwelcome and offensive sexual remarks about their bodies and sex acts. Harvel’s conduct was both repeated and sufficiently severe and/or pervasive to alter the terms and conditions of their employment.
He isolated some women by taking them to secluded areas within the Recycling Center or outside the facility, including to Solid Waste Department convenience centers and the Cumberland County landfill, so that he could subject them to unwelcome, non-consensual sexual contact.
He threatened to rape at least one woman.
Harvel subjected many of the women to unwelcome and offensive sexual remarks. He commented on the size and shape of their breasts and buttocks, including Charging Party 1 and Charging Party 4. He told Charging Party 3 he “wanted to fuck” her and Charging Party 1 that a coworker “would like to have his penis between your boobs.” He asked Charging Party 2 if she shaved her “kitty cat” and Employee 5 if she wanted to be pleased sexually.
All of the women found Harvel’s sexual contact, sexual advances, and offensive sexual remarks to be unwelcome, and many of the women undertook repeated efforts to get him to stop. Several women, including Charging Party 1, Charging Party 2, Charging Party 3, Employee 2, Employee 5, and Employee 6, expressly asked him to cease his conduct. Some women, including Charging Party 2, Employee 4, and Employee 6, also physically pushed Harvel away when he touched them or otherwise tried to evade his touch.
Harvel pressured some of the women, including Charging Party 3 and Employee 3, for sexual favors in exchange for employment benefits. In November 2017, Harvel’s harassment culminated in Charging Party 3’s constructive discharge, when she quit after Harvel threatened to rape her.
Harvel was arrested and indicted on sexual battery, assault, and official misconduct on February 26, 2018. His criminal trial is pending.
After being notified of Charging Party 1’s EEOC charge, County Mayor Kenneth Carey told then-Interim Director of the Solid Waste Department Kimberly Patterson to “get rid of” Charging Party 1. Patterson understood that Carey wanted Charging Party 1 fired because she had filed an EEOC charge. After Charging Party 1 filed her EEOC charge, Cumberland County began to remove her employment privileges and change the conditions of her employment.
The suit also reports that During Harvel’s tenure, Cumberland County lacked an effective sexual harassment policy. Cumberland County’s sexual harassment policy in effect at all times relevant to this action did not require supervisors to report incidents of sexual harassment. Cumberland County’s sexual harassment policy in effect at all times relevant to this action did not permit informal complaints of harassment to be made. In addition, Cumberland County distributed its sexual harassment policy only to full-time employees.
Some women, including Charging Party 1, Charging Party 2, Employee 3, Employee 4, and Employee 6, reported Harvel’s harassment to their superiors at the Recycling Center. These complaints did not lead to any action by Cumberland County. Some women complained about the harassment directly to Harvel, including Charging Party 1, Charging Party 2, Charging Party 3, Employee 2, Employee 5, and Employee 6. Some women did not complain because they were unaware of the complaint process; because they did not believe the County Mayor, to whom the policy suggested they report, would be impartial based on his personal relationship with Harvel; or because they feared reprisal, such as termination.
The County’s failure to take reasonable steps to prevent Harvel’s harassment have caused the Charging Parties and similarly situated female employees of the Solid Waste Department financial and emotional injuries, including the loss of salary and other benefits of employment, emotional pain, suffering, inconvenience, loss of enjoyment of life, humiliation, and other non-pecuniary losses.
The suit requests a jury trial
