Mayor accused of sexual harassment
A meter maid who is paid minimum wage and requested an increase in her work hours claims Monessen Mayor Lou Mavrakis said he would consent to her request in exchange for her performing a sex act.
The meter maid, Melissa Luketich, sued both the mayor and the city in federal court, claiming “severe and pervasive sexual harassment” and sex discrimination while working as a Monessen employee.
Since 2011, Luketich worked as a parking meter monitor, a 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. job. As a single mother who was making $7.25 an hour, she asked Mavrakis in May 2016 to be able to work from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The mayor’s response humiliated her, she claimed in her suit, and she said she related her allegations to a lieutenant in the police department and the police chief. Mavrakis later denied making the alleged statement, and police Chief John Mandarino reportedly instructed Luketich to contact an attorney.
Luketich claims Monessen has been aware of Mavrakis’ improper behavior “as early as 2014 when he was accused of sexual harassment by a different female employee.” The suit also claims there was another, more recent incident involving the mayor.
Luketich alleges a few months after her request for increased work hours, Mavrakis engaged in name-calling and said her “job was on the line” and the city retaliated against her by having city employees watch her while she was working, “presumably to try and find pretext to terminate her.”
Luketich said in the suit she was unable to obtain more working hours and requested from the court lost wages, punitive damages, legal fees and court costs.
Mavrakis lost the Democratic nomination for mayor, but he is waging a write-in campaign in the Nov. 7 election in an attempt to retain his position.
He said Wednesday afternoon the court case is “absolutely” politically motivated.
“Right now, I’m into a vicious campaign for mayor. Isn’t it unusual that the suit is filed three weeks before the election? They’ve done this several times with sex harass charges. They did this to me in my first year in office, and it didn’t go nowhere. I’m having a successful campaign. These people are worried to death. You got allegations? Prove it.
“There’s no problem. It will all come out.”
Mavrakis pointed to another federal lawsuit Luketich filed in June against Pilot Travel Centers, 205 Wilson Road, Bentleyville, where she worked as a claims analyst from 2006 until she was fired in October 2015.
According to this complaint, Luketich alleged her supervisor and general manager subjected her to constant and pervasive sexual harassment and name-calling and encouraged her to engage in sexual relations with the supervisor’s friend, a co-worker, which she reported three times to a general manager in 2015.
She arrived late for work Oct. 7 of that year due to a headache related to a disabling brain tumor and was fired two days later, according to her complaint.
Luketich claimed her employer failed to accommodate her disability, unlawfully fired her, subjected her to sex discrimination and sexual harassment due to a hostile work environment, and retaliated against her.
Last week the case was referred to mediation, to be concluded by Dec. 29 unless extended by court order.