BSO principal oboist files sex harassment complaint

The principal oboist of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra has filed a sexual harassment complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against the BSO relating to concertmaster Jonathan Carney.

Katherine Needleman alleges in the filing that Carney retaliated against her after she rejected his advances in 2005, and that the orchestra subsequently allowed a hostile work environment.

“This is a problem that needs to be exposed,” Needleman said Tuesday. “It has been pushed under the rug too long.” Needleman

BSO management said an outside investigation did not support Needleman’s allegations. And Carney’s attorney, Neil J. Ruther, called the complaint “pure, utter nonsense.”

In the complaint, filed Sept. 14, Needleman alleges that Carney retaliated against her for refusing to have sex with him in 2005 while the BSO was on tour in Spain, and then for reporting him to management.

Carney said “nothing ever occurred” between him and Needleman.

“There was no harassment, no retaliation, no hostile work environment,” Carney said.

But Needleman alleges in the complaint that Carney engaged in “daily hostility” and “physical intimidations and threats.” The complaint adds that she reported these developments to the orchestra several times.

BSO president and CEOPeter Kjome said that the orchestra was first informed of the allegation against Carney in December 2006. An investigation at that time by the BSO’s human resources department recommended no disciplinary action, he said.

When the allegations resurfaced in January 2018, BSO management launched an outside investigation.

“The [2018] investigation went on for about eight months,” Kjome said. “The report said that there was no evidence about the allegation of inappropriate behavior that would warrant disciplinary action or termination. And there was no hostile work environment at the BSO. ”

Needleman’s attorney Jessie Weber challenged that finding.

“The investigation was not conducted in the way we believe it should have been, allowing anonymity for witnesses.” Weber said. “We also requested that Mr. Carney be put on leave while the investigation was going on, which other orchestras have done.”