It appears former Deputy Treasurer Sharon Fahy’s sexual harassment lawsuit against Treasurer Joe Ferrari and Oxford Township will be settled out of court.
Following a Nov. 5 closed session meeting with their attorney, township officials voted 7-0 “to finalize settlement in the Fahy matter.”
No specific details about the pending settlement were available because the process is in its “preliminary stages,” according to attorney Tom McGraw, who’s representing Ferrari and the township in this matter.
“Nothing’s final until (the settlement’s) signed and done,” McGraw said. “There’s no settlement until the documents are signed.”
Ferrari said he’s “been advised (by the township attorney) not to comment until all aspects (of the case) have been taken care of.”
Township Supervisor Bill Dunn also declined to comment on the pending settlement.
Fahy, who was terminated March 2, 2002 by Ferrari, filed suit in Oakland County Circuit Court on May 31, 2002, naming both the treasurer and township as codefendants.
Fahy is seeking in excess of $25,000 for damages she suffered including “loss of past and future income and employee benefits, mental anxiety and physical and emotional distress.”
The $25,000 amount is the threshold necessary for this case to be filed in circuit court.
The suit contains a total of six counts against Ferrari and the township including sexual harassment, sexual discrimination, retaliation, violation of Michigan’s Whistleblower’s Act, wrongful discharge/breach of contract and “intentional infliction of emotional distress.”
In the suit, Fahy claimed she was subjected to “repeated sexual harassment” by Ferrari including “unwelcome sexual advances,” “sexual comments and gestures,” and “other conduct and communications of a sexual nature.”
The suit also alleged Fahy was subjected to “unwelcome comments and/or other conduct and communications of an inappropriate and hostile nature” that “created a hostile work environment.”
Ferrari’s alleged conduct toward Fahy was described in the suit as “so outrageous and extreme as to be regarded as atrocious, and to go beyond all possible bounds of decency, and to be utterly intolerable in a civilized community and work setting.”
Fahy claimed her complaints and reports to township officials regarding the treasurer’s “unlawful harassment” were met with “retaliation.”
When she made it known she was taking a leave of absence due to Ferrari’s behavior and intended to exercise her legal rights with respect to the treasurer’s alleged misconduct, the suit stated she was “retaliated against” by being terminated on March 2, 2002.
In a Feb. 13, 2002 letter to the township, Fahy indicated she needed to take a medical leave of absence because “the abusive behavior I have experienced, working with Joe Ferrari, has compounded through the years.”
“Joe’s mental and verbal abuse has gone on way too long,” Fahy wrote. “This environment is not healthy for ladies. . .I look forward to returning to a healthy environment in the future.”
In the March 13, 2002 issue of the Leader, Ferrari “vehemently” denied Fahy’s allegations and described his working relationship with her as a “deteriorating situation that just got worse” due to a “communication breakdown.”
The treasurer stated he was “regretful” things had to end that way, but there was “just no way to bring it back.”
In Ferrari’s March 2, 2002 letter of termination to Fahy, he wrote, “I am informed by the Oxford Township Supervisor, Bill Dunn, that you are on medical leave and that you have stated this leave is caused, at least in part, by what you perceived to be my behavior toward you. As you know, this not the first time these claims have been made by you against me during the past year. I do not believe my behavior has been anything other than respectful and deferential toward you now and in the past.
“Sharon, I have tried very hard to be sensitive to your feelings during the past year. Because of your reluctance to talk directly with me to try to work issues out, I have sought input from others on how they perceive things doing between us at the office. Not until you and your fiance met with Bill Dunn on Tuesday, February 12, 2002 was I aware of your apparent stress. Apparently, my request that you make up the Oxford Township work time you had taken off to go to the Doctor’s office brought your perceived stress to a head.
“Given your strong feelings against me and our apparent inability to work things out over the past several months, and given the importance of the Deputy’s position to the efficient operation of Oxford Township’s Treasury Department, I feel it is better for all of us for me to terminate your position as Deputy Treasurer. Unfortunately, I now see that there is no possibility of us ever working together again,” Ferrari’s letter stated.
Please watch for publication of this article in the November 12 edition of The Oxford Leader.