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An ex-Youngstown employee is suing the city claiming she was bullied by her supervisor
YOUNGSTOWN
A former Youngstown waste-treatment plant chemist is suing the city and her former supervisor for at least $300,000, contending she was bullied for years by her ex-boss and that city officials, aware of the situation, did nothing to stop it.
But Deputy Law Director Anthony Donofrio said city officials investigated claims by Janice Fagert, the former chemist, that Denise Seman, her supervisor, was bullying her and determined none of the allegations had merit.
In the lawsuit, Mark Hanni, Fagert’s attorney, wrote that Seman bullied his client – though no specifics are given – and because of that behavior, Fagert “suffered severe mental and psychological pain and has suffered humiliation.” The “extensive bullying” caused her to seek professional treatment, he wrote in the lawsuit.
Also, after making the complaints to city officials, Hanni wrote that Fagert was “reprimanded and warned about purported job-related deficiencies by Youngstown,” none of which had any “basis in fact, and [had] no legitimate job-related justification.”
Fagert’s personnel file has only one letter of reprimand for a lack of communication with Seman, her supervisor. Fagert was never suspended, demoted or had any sanctions imposed on her, Donofrio said.
Fagert, hired by the city in 1989, was earning $55,525 in annual salary when she left the job May 7, 2015, according to city employee data.
She was off for a “long period of time” before leaving the job on a disability claim, Donofrio said.
Fagert filed “complaints and they were investigated very thoroughly, and we found they were without merit,” Donofrio said.
Fagert “didn’t take orders very well,” he added. “There was no communication between them, and they worked next to each other. It was a weird situation. Fagert communicated by Post-it notes. If she was corrected on the job, she was disciplined in her mind.”
Seman was never disciplined as she didn’t do anything wrong, Donofrio said.
The lawsuit was assigned to Judge Maureen Sweeney of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.