Port Authority faces ex-employee's $1M lawsuit over workplace harassment
Editor's note: This lawsuit was dismissed by a U.S. District Court judge in August 2021 and an appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals was denied in April 2022.
A former Port Authority of New York and New Jersey employee is suing the agency and her former boss for $1 million after she said she was fired for reporting workplace harassment.
Ashley Prendergast, the plaintiff in the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in the Southern District of New York, was hired in November 2017 as an office assistant in the Port Authority Police Department at JFK International Airport. Before that, she worked in a similar role for PATH.
Prendergast’s boss, James Sabatelli, “maintained a bullying, sexually aggressive work environment for his female subordinates. … He often made sexually suggestive comments about Ms. Prendergast’s appearance,” according to the lawsuit. Sabatelli, the suit says, also once said the office “had too much estrogen.”
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She first reported this conduct anonymously to the Port Authority’s Equal Employment Opportunity hotline, and then made an in-person complaint in which Prendergast was interviewed and an investigation was launched, the lawsuit stated.
Sabatelli became aware of her complaint and “aggressively” questioned her about the interview, and soon fired her for improper cellphone use, the complaint says.
After her firing, Prendergast submitted a charge of gender discrimination and retaliation with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which notified her in May of her right to sue in federal court.
Prendergast’s attorney, Richard Soto, a lawyer with the Advocates for Justice Chartered attorneys, did not respond to a request for comment.
A spokesman for the Port Authority said the agency does not comment on pending litigation.
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This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Port Authority faces $1M lawsuit over workplace harassment
