Employees who sued Florida Rep. Basabe for sexual harassment file claims with EEOC
Two staffers who say Florida Rep. Fabian Basabe sexually harassed them have filed charges with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, repeating allegations they made in a lawsuit filed in state court last week and potentially allowing them to pursue federal discrimination claims in the future.
Nicolas Frevola, a legislative aide to Basabe, and Jacob Cutbirth, a former intern for the Miami Beach-based lawmaker, filed the charges with the EEOC and the Florida Commission on Human Relations, which have a work-sharing relationship to investigate claims of workplace discrimination.
After investigating the allegations, the EEOC can choose to file its own lawsuit against an employer, try to reach a settlement, or notify an accuser that they have the right to sue their employer in federal court.
Frevola, 25, and Cutbirth, 24, are accusing Basabe and the Florida House of Representatives of discrimination based on sex, stemming from Basabe’s alleged behavior. They say Basabe, 45, made repeated lewd sexual comments and made unwanted advances, claims Basabe has denied.
The lawsuit and Frevola’s EEOC charge claim the first-year Republican legislator slapped Frevola’s buttocks and said he wanted “all of that butt” while they attended an elementary school career day in December.
The EEOC filing also repeated an allegation Frevola first made in April that Basabe slapped him in the face and told him to stand in a corner at a private event in January.
House investigation ‘inconclusive’
A law firm hired by House Speaker Paul Renner to investigate that allegation found late last month that there was “physical contact” between Basabe and Frevola, but said no witnesses could corroborate the slap and that it was “inconclusive” whether it had occurred. Basabe has denied the allegation.
Cutbirth, the former intern, alleges in his EEOC charge that Basabe groped and tried to kiss him in a car in December, before Basabe had hired him as an intern. Cutbirth made the same claim in the lawsuit filed last week, saying the incident took place while he was driving Basabe home after a night out.
Cutbirth says Basabe continued to harass him after he was hired in January. According to the lawsuit and the EEOC charge, Basabe told Cutbirth to flirt with him in the office, referred to him as “eye candy,” and suggested he break off his engagement to his girlfriend and “explore his sexuality by having sex with men.”
On March 7, the charge states, Basabe asked Cutbirth about the size of his penis. That same day, six weeks after starting his internship, Cutbirth says he quit.
“No reasonable person would have remained employed in this toxic environment and continued to be subjected to this ongoing, pervasive sexual harassment,” the EEOC charge states.
A new House investigation into sexual harassment allegations
The Florida House will investigate the sexual harassment allegations made by Frevola and Cutbirth, a spokesperson said last week.
READ MORE: Two employees accuse Florida Rep. Fabian Basabe of sexual harassment in lawsuit
In addition to charges of discrimination based on sex, Frevola’s EEOC filing accuses Basabe and the Florida House of retaliation, quoting from a statement Basabe issued in which he referred to Frevola as “lying scum.”
Frevola also says Basabe and House leadership have failed to approve a final payment he is owed for living expenses during the legislative session in Tallahassee, which ended in early May. And his EEOC charge questions why, after he claimed Basabe had slapped him, the House human resources department told him to first use sick leave before ultimately placing him on paid administrative leave.
A House spokesperson declined to comment.
In response to an inquiry from the Miami Herald earlier this week, an attorney for Basabe, Robert Fernandez, called Frevola’s claims “more of the same frivolous nonsense.” Basabe and Fernandez could not immediately be reached Thursday for comment on Cutbirth’s EEOC charge.
Frevola filed his charge Monday, and Cutbirth filed his Tuesday, records show.
Aide’s employment status in flux
Frevola, who is still on paid administrative leave as Basabe’s legislative aide, was scheduled to transfer this week into a district aide role with state Rep. Vicki Lopez, according to a July 7 memo from the House Speaker’s office. But an attorney for Frevola said he would be “extremely uncomfortable being the district aide next door to his abuser.”
“Mr. Frevola did not request that he be sexually harassed by Basabe — and he should not be punished or subjected to further abuse by moving him to an adjacent district to Basabe,” attorney Marie Mattox wrote.
Lopez, a Republican, represents House District 113, which encompasses Key Biscayne and parts of Coral Gables and Miami, including Virginia Key and PortMiami. The district is next to Basabe’s House District 106, which includes Miami Beach and other coastal communities in Northeast Miami-Dade County.
In response to Frevola’s concerns, House officials said Frevola could remain on administrative leave until they find an alternative solution.
Basabe, the son of a wealthy Ecuadorian businessman, is a former New York socialite who appeared on reality TV shows in the mid-2000s.
He was narrowly elected in November and faced backlash from constituents during his first legislative session as he voted in lock-step with fellow Republicans on culture-war issues, despite campaigning as a social moderate.
