Custodians' sexual harassment claims will go to mediation
Sexual harassment lawsuits filed by two Wappingers Central School District custodians against their former supervisor and the district are headed for mediation.
But the district and the custodians — who allege their former supervisor sexually harassed them and Wappingers didn't take adequate steps to stop her — might not be able to reach an agreement.
Michael Murphy, 41, and Samuel Feiler, 63, filed complaints in September against Catherine DeFazio, the former head custodian at Van Wyck Junior High School, and the district itself, along with a number of Wappingers Central School District officials.
DeFazio, 52, allegedly engaged in "frequent, severe, continuous and recurring" acts of sexual harassment when she was head custodian at Van Wyck, according to court documents. The district did not adequately address the "blatant violations" of the district's sexual harassment policies. Those who complained were retaliated against, which created a hostile workplace.
The cases were automatically sent to mediation, as per policy for many of the employment discrimination lawsuits in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. Mediation can save time and money while alleviating a court's case backlog, according to courtadr.org.
But while "it would be great for the case to settle in mediation... I don’t hold out much hope for that outcome," said Jennifer Echevarria of Jacobowitz and Gubits in Walden, Murphy's and Feiler's attorney.
That's because the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in New York already tried and failed to mediate the matter.
Murphy and Feiler filed a complaint with the commission in 2013, according to court documents. The EEOC determined there was probable cause and tried to mediate between the parties in 2014, but they couldn't come to an agreement. The custodians were allowed to bring the case to court this year.
The two men said DeFazio started sexually harassing them soon after they started their jobs at Van Wyck in 2011, according to court documents. They allegedly asked DeFazio to stop her behavior, which included grabbing and pinching their buttocks, and making sexually inappropriate jokes and comments; she also decorated the custodians' office with a birthday card depicting a "near-naked man in a sexually provocative pose."
In her court-filed response, DeFazio denies all of the allegations of sexual harassment and creating a hostile work environment; she does admit that a birthday card, depicting a man without his shirt on, was visible in the custodial office.
The district knew, or should have known, that sexual harassment and retaliation were "allowed to persist unchecked for years," according to Murphy and Feiler's claims.
In a court-filed response, Wappingers officials deny some allegations outright; they don't have enough information about other allegations to form an opinion about whether or not the claims are true. Adam Rodd, an attorney for Wappingers, could not be reached for comment.
Preliminary conferences are set for Dec. 28 in White Plains federal court. Echevarria said the judge will likely lay out a schedule and assign a mediator at that time.
Murphy and Feiler are seeking affirmative relief, back pay from lost overtime opportunities, compensatory damages, punitive damages, attorneys' fees and other reimbursement.
Echevarria said the two custodians are still employed in the district. DeFazio went on a workers’ compensation leave of absence from 2013 to 2014, according to district documents. By March 2015, district documents state that she was no longer a district employee, but it's unclear if she was terminated or resigned.
Nina Schutzman: nschutzman@poughkeepsiejournal.com, 845-451-4518, Twitter: @pojonschutzman