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Photo Vincent Guadazno
A complaint has been filed against Selectman Austin Knight, seen here at Town Meeting Monday night, for allegedly sexually harassing a town employee. |
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Sexual harassment complaint filed against selectman
By Pru Sowers
Banner Staff
PROVINCETOWN — A town employee has filed a complaint alleging sexual harassment by Selectman Austin Knight.
The male employee, who asked not to be identified, delivered a letter to Town Manager Sharon Lynn Monday outlining the dates and circumstances of the alleged harassment, including multiple requests for sex by Knight to the employee dating back to approximately 2005, when Knight was a member of the water and sewer board. The story was first reported on the Banner’s website Monday evening.
“It did continue to when [Knight] was a selectman,” the employee said. “My purpose in filing the complaint is someone in his position shouldn’t be threatening a subordinate for sex.”
Lynn wouldn’t confirm Monday night that she had received a formal complaint against Knight. She said she could not comment, as any harassment charges against a town employee would be treated as a confidential personnel issue.
“If there were a complaint filed, it would be an internal matter,” she said.
Knight wouldn’t comment when reached by the Banner Monday.
“I have no idea and no comment,” he said, adding, when asked if the harassment charges were true, “I don’t know anything.”
The employee said he had neither encouraged nor accepted any of Knight’s alleged overtures but did tell some of his colleagues about the incidents when they occurred. The most recent alleged occurrence took place shortly after Thanksgiving last year, the employee said, when Knight suggested the two men drive a town-owned car with tinted windows to the Beech Forest parking lot off Race Point Road.
“He [Knight] said we could jump in the back seat and no one would see us,” the employee said, saying Knight then offered to perform oral sex on the employee. “That was the most egregious thing he said.”
On at least two different occasions Knight also put his arm around the employee in the Grace Gouveia building, the employee said, where water and sewer board meetings were held, while propositioning him. The employee didn’t file a formal complaint until now because he said he felt the matter took a more serious turn during the recent town budget negotiations. The employee said Knight told him that town finances were tight this year and the employee’s department might have to make cuts.
“He did make a reference about my job. I took it as a threat because he had the power to vote against my position,” the employee said, adding that he met with Lynn in February before the budget was finalized to detail the alleged harassment but did not make a formal complaint at that time.
The employee said he has retained a lawyer. He is not suing the town for monetary damages at this point.
“If [Knight] steps down, I’ll drop the whole thing. Otherwise, I may take it to MCAD,” he said, referring to the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination, the state’s chief civil rights agency. “I’m tired of being a victim.”
Lynn said Monday night that if a complaint were filed against a selectman for harassment, she would be responsible for following up with an investigation. When asked how it would be handled, Lynn said that even though a selectman is not technically a town employee, the same rules would apply to an elected board member as to a staff member. In both cases, the town manager would be responsible for investigating a complaint, she said.
Board of selectmen chair Mary-Jo Avellar and Selectman Michele Couture both said on Tuesday they would not comment on the issue.
“I haven’t seen any formal complaint. I’m not going to talk about it,” Avellar said.
“I leave it to the town manager to follow through on whatever is necessary,” Couture said on Tuesday. “Then it would be up to the voters. The only person Austin is answerable to is the voters.”
Technically, Lynn reports to the board of selectmen and investigating her superior could be problematic. Normally, a sexual harassment complaint against a town employee is referred to town counsel. If a settlement cannot be reached internally, the case is often filed with the MCAD.
Jim Lampke, executive director of the City Solicitors and Town Counsel Association, a professional association of attorneys who represent local governments, spoke generally about how a complaint against a selectman might be investigated. Emphasizing he has no knowledge about a sexual harassment complaint in Provincetown, Lampke said some municipalities in Massachusetts have hired an outside attorney to investigate a harassment case if the existing town counsel might be asked to defend the selectman or the town against the complaint.
“You’re bringing in someone objective from the outside who doesn’t know the players, who often brings the appearance of objectivity to the process,” Lampke said.
As for how an elected official, if found guilty, might be disciplined, Lampke, again speaking generally, said there are remedies, including sexual harassment training (for other remedies see sidebar this page).
“It’s a little trickier when an elected official is involved. But there are appropriate actions the employer can take if, in fact, there was sexual harassment,” Lampke said.
Sexual harassment is a civil, not a criminal charge; however, the state has strict rules prohibiting employers and staff from making sexual remarks or advances to subordinates or colleagues.
Lynn instituted sexual harassment classes for all town staff, including selectmen, last October after Laurie Roles filed a complaint of sexual harassment against her former supervisor, Provincetown Recreation Director Tracy Trewhella, and Trewhella’s boyfriend, Doug Taylor, who was Provincetown’s building commissioner during the time Roles alleges she was harassed. That case is currently being investigated by MCAD.
Same-sex sexual harassment is treated the same way under state law as harassment cases involving men and women.
Massachusetts law also states that employers are liable for harassment by people with supervisory authority regardless of whether the employer knows of the conduct. In addition, an employer may be liable for sexual harassment even if the alleged harasser is not formally designated as a supervisor and even if a supervisor lacks actual authority.
“Liability under these circumstances exists when the harasser holds himself out to the employee as having supervisory authority over the employee,” the law states.
psowers@provincetownbanner.com
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Apr 10th, 2008