Anti-harass failure
Woman says her boss became creepier after class
A sex-obsessed Long Island executive emerged hornier than ever from a company anti-sexual harassment class, a fired female employee alleges.
Janice Blendermann, in a complaint filed week with the state Human Rights Division, said her randy supervisor at Summit Handling Systems of Commack harassed her with sexually inappropriate text messages until her firing this year.
Operations manager Vincent Cusumano and other executives had previously “attended anti-sexual harassment training” after an incident at the 2016 office Christmas party, the complaint charged. “However, the training seemed only to fuel (the) sexual harassment of Janice.”
Administrative assistant Blendermann accused Cusumano, her direct supervisor, of grabbing her buttock and sticking his thumb in her anus this past June, two months before she was dismissed in retaliation for her complaints, according to her filing. “Janice was frozen with fear and left . . . without saying anything,” her complaint said. “Later that evening, (her supervisor) referenced his sexual assault on Janice as a ‘lucky spank’ in a text message.”
Her fellow fired colleague and administrative assistant Colleen Mannix, in a separate complaint, charged she, too, was canned after speaking out about the crude conduct of her male co-workers. “I’m not going to let this c--t bust my b---s,” Cusumano allegedly announced about her in March 2016. He also referred to Mannix as a “b---h” and a “pain in the a—” before firing her this past April 6.
A message left at Summit Handling Systems for comment was not returned, nor was an email for an attorney listed for the company in the discrimination complaint. But the women charged their firings were punitive after they complained about the workplace.
Employment lawyer David Rosenberg, representing the two victims, expressed his outrage at Summit’s failure to take any action despite complaints from his clients. “The sexual harassment in this case together with the company’s refusal to take corrective action is truly horrifying,” he said.
Both women further alleged their attempts to land better jobs with the company were rebuffed based on gender. And Blendermann, in her complaint, charged that Cusumano continually harassed her with suggestive text messages.
“It would be my ultimate fantasy to be at the beach with you,” read one of the texts.
Several other texts referred to Cusumano spanking his coworker, and Blendermann alleged that she was dismissed “in retaliation of her rejection of his sexual advances.”