PHILADELPHIA – A Philadelphia correctional officer who alleged she faced sexual harassment, discrimination and retaliation on the job, voluntarily dismissed her own case without prejudice three days after bringing it in federal court, and then refiled the complaint in state court.
Shanti Lewis first filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on Dec. 1 versus the City of Philadelphia.
“Plaintiff was hired on or about March 19, 2001 as a Correctional Officer. In or about June 2006, she was promoted to Correctional Sergeant. In or about October 2008, she was promoted to Correctional Lieutenant. In or about February 2022, complainant was promoted to Correctional Captain. On or about April 21, 2022, after she was promoted to Captain, plaintiff was reassigned to Philadelphia Industrial Correctional Center, one of the jails on the prison campus on State Road in Philadelphia. As a Captain, plaintiff reported to Norman Williams, who at that time was Deputy Warden of PICC,” the suit says.
“From the beginning of her assignment to PICC, Williams showed hostility and discrimination towards complainant due to her sex. He made it clear, through his words and actions as pled herein, that he did not want women to serve as shift commanders in PICC. By way of example, on the first day of her reassignment to PICC, Williams told Lewis, ‘You belong to me now.’ On more than one occasion, Williams made comments to complainant to the effect that women should not be shift commanders on the 3-11 p.m. shift.”
The suit adds that Williams held weekly meetings at PICC, generally at 2 p.m. on Wednesdays, which the plaintiff attended. On several occasions, the suit says, Williams made demeaning and humiliating remarks to plaintiff.
One example mentioned in the suit that Williams saw the plaintiff and her co-captain, Melinda Medina, who was also at PICC on the 3-11 p.m. shift, and said, ‘I can’t have you both here, I’m not paying you.’ (This referenced the fact that the 3-11 commanders received overtime for attending the meeting.)
Lewis stated she would leave, but Williams stopped her. At another weekly meeting, Williams allegedly called the plaintiff “Lieutenant Lewis” instead of “Captain.”
“Williams frequently called plaintiff to Williams’ office during plaintiff’s shift. Williams waited until after the personnel who worked day shift were done. Nothing of substance was accomplished during these meetings. Williams simply used his power as Deputy Warden to force plaintiff to chat with him. Williams frequently called plaintiff’s co-captain, Melinda Medina, a female, into these meetings with plaintiff. Williams never called these meetings with male captains; he only did so with female captains. Williams instructed plaintiff to come up the back stairs, out of sight of the cameras. Plaintiff was always uncomfortable at these meetings. Williams kept the lights low and played romantic music on his computer. He discussed personal matters and tried to pry into the personal life of plaintiff,” the suit states.
“Williams frequently held plaintiff in these meetings for over an hour. To avoid this stalking conduct, plaintiff frequently told the center control sergeant or lobby officer to page her after a half hour so that she would have an excuse to leave. On or about June 15, 2022, Williams called plaintiff into his office. Williams said, ‘Sit down, I’m about to do some things to you.’ Plaintiff was so upset she left the office and went into the bathroom. This was a severe incident of harassment and discrimination. On July 13, 2022, plaintiff and Captain Medina were called into a meeting with Williams. Williams had a folding carpet knife in his hand. During this meeting, Williams unfolded the knife and pointed the blade at both plaintiff and Captain Medina. The knife pointing was used to emphasize Williams’ words. Plaintiff was horrified by this extreme and outrageous act of harassment and discrimination. Plaintiff and Captain Medina complained about the misconduct of Williams to defendant.”
Though the plaintiff provided testimony as to her various experiences with Williams on the job, she says the City did not investigate and found this “inexcusable” in light of the evidence she presented.
“It was well within defendant’s duties to assure a harassment-free work environment to investigate whether plaintiff and Captain Medina were called to after hour meetings with no legitimate purpose. Defendant simply failed and refused to investigate this claim. Instead of disciplining Williams for his clear misconduct, defendant promoted him to Warden. As part of the investigation, defendant discovered charges about plaintiff leaving food in the lobby, which were sustained. This was retaliatory. The only reason plaintiff was written up for this is because she complained about Williams’ conduct. This is a common practice and did not warrant discipline. The motivation for the discipline was retaliation. The day plaintiff returned from making her statement for her EEO complaint, Williams assigned plaintiff to work at the housing unit. This was clearly retaliatory as Captains are not assigned to the housing unit. Lieutenants are not even assigned to housing unit duty,” the suit says.
“On Dec. 15, 2022, plaintiff was given an Employee Violation Report for not attending one of Williams’ meetings. That meeting was called on Dec. 7, 2022, after Williams was aware of plaintiff’s complaints about the discriminatory nature of the meetings. Even though Williams called the meeting, Williams had his co-Deputy Warden, William Vetter, write-up plaintiff for not coming to Williams’ meeting. The purpose of calling the meeting was retaliatory. On June 15, 2023, plaintiff attended a disciplinary hearing for the Dec. 15, 2022 write-up. Plaintiff stated, again, that Williams was harassing and intimidating plaintiff at meetings. The board ignored this. It recommended plaintiff receive a seven day suspension. To date, plaintiff has not yet received the Notice of Suspension. Starting in or about July 2022, after he was aware of the complaints of harassment and discrimination against him, Williams blocked plaintiff and Medina from overtime. Williams asserted there was a grievance for captains working overtime. It is believed, and therefore averred, that this allegation is false – there was no such grievance. Williams applied this restriction only to the 3-11 p.m. Captains, which were plaintiff and Medina and no one else. As a Deputy Warden (and later Warden), Williams’ conduct creates respondeat superior liability on defendant. In addition, or in the alternative, defendant is liable for failing to take prompt remedial action upon learning of the discriminatory conduct of Williams.”
Three days later, on Dec. 4, Lewis filed notice of voluntary dismissal that her own case would be dismissed without prejudice.
She then refiled her case in the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas on Dec. 7 alongside Medina as a co-plaintiff, and listing the City of Philadelphia’s Department of Prisons and Williams as co-defendants.
For counts of sexual harassment/hostile work environment, sex discrimination, retaliation under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, violation of the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act and Philadelphia Fair Practices Ordinance, the plaintiff is seeking all equitable and monetary relief available under the applicable laws, including but not limited to, compensatory damages, liquidated damages, pre-judgment interest, attorney’s fees and costs, and such other relief as this Court deems just and proper.
The plaintiffs are represented by Timothy P. Creech of Creech & Creech, in Philadelphia.
The defendants have not yet obtained legal counsel.
Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas case 231200949
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania case 2:23-cv-04751
From the Pennsylvania Record: Reach Courts Reporter Nicholas Malfitano at nick.malfitano@therecordinc.com