Union Twp. supervisor accused of sexual harassment by former employee
In a lawsuit filed Monday, a former Union Township employee accused the municipality of acting in retaliation when it fired him after he reported being the victim of sexual harassment at the hands of a supervisor.
Glenn Thomas Mellor of Venetia was the township’s road superintendent when he was called into a meeting with Supervisors Paul Chasko and Heather Daerr in fall 2016, according to court documents.
There, Mellor alleges Daerr pushed her leg against his, repeating the action twice even as Mellor attempted to “extricate himself from the uncomfortable situation,” moving as far away from the supervisor as possible.
According to the lawsuit, at one point Daerr “put her leg between (Mellor’s) two legs and ‘jerked’ his leg towards her.”
Initially, Mellor reported the incident to the board of supervisors, which retained outside counsel to investigate. According to court documents, the board found Mellor’s complaint to have “no basis in fact.”
Additionally, the retained counsel concluded that Mellor manufactured the incident “in an effort to obtain leverage on the Township relative to his terms and conditions of employment and/or to cause embarrassment and political harm to Supervisor Daerr,” according to court documents.
The board of supervisors voted to fire Mellor in June 2017, days after he cross-filed discrimination charges with the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission and the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission in connection with the alleged 2016 incident, according to the lawsuit.
Reasons the board gave for this move were “mere pretexts,” Mellor alleges. According to the lawsuit, the real reason for his termination was “retaliation for having raised a sexual harassment complaint against Daerr.”
“Further, the plaintiff was terminated because of his gender,” the lawsuit alleges.
Mellor is seeking $50,000 from the township, in addition to attorney’s fees and costs.