PITTSBURGH — A facilitator is suing The Roman Catholic Diocese of Erie and St. Joseph Parish, citing alleged hostile work environment, sexual harassment and constructive termination.
Kathleen A. Clement filed a complaint on May 23 in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania against the defendants, alleging that they violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act and the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act.
According to the complaint, the plaintiff alleges that from March 2013 through October 2013, she was subjected to an offensive, sexually hostile work environment by Father Daniel Kresinski, the parish priest at St. Joseph. During her every meeting with Father Kresinski, she claims, he would touch himself in a sexually offensive manner. As a direct and proximate result of defendants’ actions, she suffered humiliation, inconvenience, mental distress, embarrassment and loss of income and other benefits, the suit says. The plaintiff holds The Roman Catholic Diocese of Erie and St. Joseph Parish responsible because the defendants allegedly failed to address or remedy her complaint of sexual harassment, advised her to politely resign and asked her to sign a nondisclosure agreement after her forced resignation on Oct. 3, 2013.
The plaintiff requests a trial by jury and seeks judgment declaring the defendants' actions to be unlawful, an order for her reinstatement, compensation for all damages, costs and expenses for this litigation and for such further legal relief as the court may deem just and proper. She is represented by Nikki Velisaris Lykos and Colleen Ramage Johnston of Johnston Lykos LLC in Pittsburgh.
U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania Case number 1:16-cv-00117