$35M lawsuit against Oceanside sanitation board moves forward

An Oceanside Sanitation District No. 7 secretary and two former employees have filed a $35 million federal lawsuit against the district and five current and former commissioners, citing sexual harassment and retaliation against those who reported it.

Board secretary Jacqueline Urli filed the suit with former general supervisor Daniel Faust and Treasurer Douglas Hernandez on Feb. 21 in U.S. Eastern District Court. It names three current commissioners — Chairman Austin Graff, Co-chairman John Mannone and Patrick Doherty — and two former commissioners — Tom Lanning, who lost to Joe Samoles in last June’s election, and Matthew Horowitz, who recently resigned from the board and was replaced by Ryan Hemsley.

Graff, who previously said Horowitz resigned because of a new role at his regular job and not in reaction to the suit, said he could not comment on pending litigation, but he pointed to a statement the board issued when the claims first arose last year.

“The district denies all allegations of wrongdoing,” the statement read. “Since this matter is still pending in litigation, it would not be appropriate to comment further at this time.”

The lawsuit contains seven complaints, including alleged violations of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and claims of “retaliation, failure to intervene and conspiracy.”

“There have been serious civil rights violations that have negatively impacted three dedicated public servants,” said Hempstead-based attorney Frederick Brewington, who represents all three plaintiffs, “and the rules of our society and the moral ground on which we all stand demands that this lawsuit go forward.”

Brewington gave the Herald the lawsuit, which comes after the state’s Division of Human Rights found probable cause that Urli was sexually harassed by Horowitz, and that Faust and Hernandez were discriminated against by the board for defending her.

Though only Horowitz was accused of harassment, Brewington said the entire board was sued because “they’re all complicit in discrimination, retaliation and failing to intervene to stop these wrongful actions.”

Urli was the district’s lone female employee when she was hired in December 2013. According to the lawsuit, the harassment began in 2018, when Horowitz allegedly made inappropriate remarks toward Urli. The alleged comments included Urli being accused of being unfaithful to her husband, and suggestions that she have a “three-way” with other commissioners, according to the suit.

In November 2018, Urli submitted a formal complaint chronicling two months of sexual harassment allegations, during which time, she said, the board permitted a “hostile, toxic” work environment. In February 2019, she discussed the issue during a news conference.

“When I’m in these board meetings and I’m the only woman with eight men, and they start talking using filthy language, when it got directed at me is when it was most offensive,” she said at the time. “It’s been a very difficult time, and then having my co-workers terminated because they were trying to defend me to the board, it’s just been unbearable to deal with.”

Faust and Hernandez were fired nine days after Urli submitted the complaint, which named them as witnesses to her alleged harassment. Urli said the board also retaliated against her complaint by diminishing her duties.

Though Faust and Hernandez allege that they were fired for supporting Urli, Graff wrote in a Facebook post in November 2018 that they were terminated for permitting former supervisor Joe Cibellis to remain on the district’s dental plan, even though he was no longer an employee. After the commissioners uncovered the error, and he was taken off the plan, Cibellis was put back on it, which Faust and Hernandez knew about, according to Graff. Faust and Hernandez have denied knowing about it.

Urli has a history with the board. Last June, tempers flared at a district meeting when Samoles accused Urli and her husband, Marco, of being behind the phony Facebook account of a “Pamela Schwartz,” which criticized the board publicly and gave away private information about its members. Urli denied that she and her husband were involved with the account, and told the Herald that she was not a part of it. Graff claimed that the phone information linked to the Schwartz account led to the Urli’s phone, but it has since been deactivated.

The issues between Urli and the board have extended to the lawsuit, and Brewington said after the five defendants are served, they could respond to it, After, there will be a court conference to schedule the discovery process and exchange of information. Brewington said he was uncertain if the parties would settle before the case goes to court.

“We will give them every opportunity to try and correct their wrongful actions,” he said.