CITY HOSP CORP. HIT IN SEX HARASS

Sec’y: Boss Lancelot a louse

This Lancelot was no knight in shining armor.

A former city Health + Hospitals Corp. secretary sued the city Wednesday, alleging she was forced out of her job after complaining about four years of sexual harassment from her boss Lancelot Deygoo and a second supervisor — with her gripes about the pair falling on deaf ears.

Lisa Alexander, 31, allegedly fought off unwanted advances while enduring crude remarks from Behavioral Health Division executive Deygoo and fellow supervisor Michael

Maddox beginning in 2016. The pervy management tag team featured Maddox inappropriately commenting about Alexander’s breasts, while Deygoo delivered offensive remarks about her backside, the lawsuit claims.

Deygoo at one point also tricked Alexander (inset) into watching hardcore pornography through a rigged virtual reality headset, according to court papers. She ripped off the glasses and stormed from the office, with her laughing boss never offering an apology for his antics, she alleged.

“I’m a single mom, so being forced to resign wasn’t that easy to do, but living under that anxiety was a lot for me,” Alexander said. “He used intimidation. It was a very hostile work environment. Once I complained, my life was a living hell.”

Alexander filed complaints about the pair with Health + Hospitals, but neither was ever disciplined. Alexander was forced to tell co-workers that she was still seeing her ex-boyfriend to fend off Deygoo’s unwanted attention.

In 2017, Alexander was named as

Deygoo’s personal secretary, where her duties allegedly included giving him massages and waiting “hand and foot” on a boss who kept photos of her phone, the lawsuit alleged. And a year later, Deygoo allegedly groped her buttocks — with Alexander filing another complaint which led only her transfer into a unit still close to her tormentor’s office, according to the suit.

Though her new boss Steven Pulitzer knew about the alleged harassment, he insisted Alexander continue to interact with Deygoo, the lawsuit claims. In January 2019, Pulitzer held a meeting in which he allegedly forced Alexander to detail the sexual harassment complaint to Deygoo.

From there, Alexander’s computer access was stripped from her and she was cut out of meetings. An expected promotion abruptly disappeared. She was offered a job at Bellevue Hospital, but Health + Hospitals Human Resources Director Nicole Constantine gave her a bad recommendation and the new job disappeared, too, the lawsuit claims. Fed up, the mother of a 6-year-old daughter quit the agency on Jan. 6 and remains unemployed.

“My client was sexually harassed, groped and belittled for years by her direct supervisor,” said Alexander’s lawyer, John Scola. “When she complained to the director of human resources, she was denied promotions and retaliated against by the person whose job it is to protect her, ultimately forcing her resignation.”

“We will respond to these allegations as we proceed in the litigation,” a city Law Department spokesman said.