Judge lets nurse proceed with sexual harassment case over conduct at Erie County Prison
A psychiatric nurse has won a court ruling that allows her to proceed with her federal lawsuit in which she claims she was sexually harassed while working at the Erie County Prison in 2021-22. One of the claims is that a lieutenant at the prison spanked her.
In a decision filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Erie, Judge Susan Paradise Baxter rejected the county's request that she toss the lawsuit because it failed to meet several preliminary legal and factual standards.
Baxter said the plaintiff, Rebecca Linhart, and her lawyer had presented enough information for the suit to advance.
Linhart sued in April 2023. The defendants are Erie County government and Jason Stevens, the lieutenant she claims spanked her.
The county has yet to file an answer to Linhart's claims. The county instead attempted to get the case thrown out before it had to file an answer.
Under what grounds did Erie County want the lawsuit tossed?
Linhart, who no longer works at the prison, sued the county under what is known as the "joint employer theory." The county centered most of its arguments for dismissal on whether Linhart's claims met the requirements for that theory under federal civil rights law.
Linhart's employer at the time she claims the harassment occurred was Stairways Behavioral Health, which she says assigned her to work at the prison from June 28, 2021, to June 17, 2022. The county contracted with Stairways to provide mental health services at the prison, according to the suit.
Linhart claims the county was her joint employer, and is liable, because the county controlled "the day-to-day terms and conditions of her employment" though Stairways was paying her, according to the suit.
Among the employment conditions that the county set, according to the suit, was that Linhart would be considered insubordinate if she disobeyed the orders of a prison official.
The county argued that the lawsuit "is entirely devoid of any facts that the prison exercised control over the daily activities" of Linhart, according to the county's dismissal request.
Baxter disagreed. In a 15-page opinion, she said Linhart and her lawyer, Christine Elzer, of Pittsburgh, have "set forth sufficient allegations to show that Erie County may be considered her joint employer ... at this early stage in the proceeding."
Baxter said other claims in the suit could also proceed. They include that Linhart was subject to a "hostile work environment" at the prison, and that she lost her job in retaliation over her complaints.
What are some of the other claims in the lawsuit?
Linhart's suit claims "the work environment at Erie County Prison was pervaded by comments and actions of an openly sexual nature."
The suit claims that Stevens, the lieutenant, "was regularly flirtatious" with Linhart.
In early 2022, the suit claims, Linhart was in Stevens' office to have him sign paperwork, and Stevens "spanked her rear end as she leaned on his desk."
Contact Ed Palattella at epalattella@timesnews.com. Follow him on X @ETNpalattella.
This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Judge refuses to dismiss sexual harassment case against Erie County
