Dec 14, 2015 3 min read

HARRISBURG – Pennsylvania’s attorney general, her spokesman and her chief of staff were sued in federal court Monday by a former human resources analyst who says he was fired for recommending the chief of staff be terminated over sexual harassment complaints.

George Moore’s complaint against Kathleen Kane, the state, her office and aides Jonathan Duecker and Chuck Ardo says he endorsed Duecker’s firing in April, a day or two before Kane elevated Duecker, a special agent, to become her top administrator. Moore was himself fired in June.

“The manner (Moore) was terminated coupled with statements made by (the) defendants that he was escorted from the building and fired for cause suggest immoral activity,” Moore’s lawyers wrote in a 22-page complaint filed in federal court in Harrisburg. “(He) did not engage in any immoral activity as was suggested by (the) defendants’ actions and publications.”

He claims his right to due process was violated by Duecker, Kane and Ardo in how his dismissal was described. He also is suing the office, the state, Kane and Duecker for allegedly violating whistleblower protections in state law. He wants Kane and Duecker removed from their jobs, to be reinstated to his old position and to be awarded damages.

The lawsuit says Moore, who is from Millerstown, was brought in to take part in an investigation of Duecker in mid-April after two female employees of the office made sexual harassment allegations.

The complaint says a deputy attorney general accused Duecker of touching her three times in February 2014 at a Hazleton bar, contact the lawsuit describes as physical assaults. The other woman, a drug agent, alleged Duecker made advances on her at a Christmas party, then came into her bedroom, the lawsuit said.

In an April 22 internal letter to First Deputy Attorney General Bruce Beemer that was attached to his lawsuit, Moore and another human resources officer said they concluded Duecker had violated the office’s sexual harassment policy and used the threat of retaliation to intimidate others. They said he should be fired as a result.

Ardo, who the lawsuit said was involved in a public statement saying Moore had been fired for cause, declined to comment Monday, saying the office would not respond before it has reviewed the complaint.

Moore attorney Patricia Pierce said Moore now works in a different arm of state government.

The lawsuit claims Duecker has targeted others within the office and that he has “bullied employees into breaking policy, demeaned or yelled at employees in front of others, or otherwise handled himself in an unprofessional manner.”

It says Moore was told in late April or early May that Kane believed Moore leaked information about a grand jury investigation that centered on Harrisburg’s trash incinerator.

“She didn’t say it directly,” Pierce said. “She had some minions carry that message and ask” about it. Moore denies leaking any grand jury material.

Duecker has emerged as a powerful figure within the attorney general’s office this year, while Kane has found herself fighting criminal charges alleging she leaked secret grand jury material in another matter and lied about it. Kane is currently running the office without a law license, after it was suspended in October by the state Supreme Court. A hearing that could lead to Kane’s removal from office by the state Senate is scheduled for next month.