Queens Woman Accused Co-worker Of Sexual Harassment At School

A woman from Queens, New York, who worked for Compass Group, a food services contractor at the Avenues: The World School in Chelsea, alleged she was sexually harassed by her co-worker.

Staffer Ciara Rosado filed a complaint with the New York State Division of Human Rights, in which she claimed a male co-worker at her workplace, harassed her over and over again.

Rosado claimed her co-worker Francisco DeLeon forcefully snatched a Windex bottle from her hands in January and aggressively threw a garbage bin at her, according to the New York Daily News. She said a minor student came in and saved her from being hit by the bin.

In February, DeLeon had threatened to punch Rosado in the face and also commented he will sodomize her, she claimed. Rosado added he used abusive language in September and even though she verbally complained about the incidents to her seniors, no action was taken.

According to the report, the Compass Group and its subsidiaries were the respondents in her complaint.

The school services division of Compass Group spoke to Rosado’s lawyer early this month and said the company wasn’t responsible and would not do any settlement. The company also accused Rosado of using offensive language to describe the employee and said she was making baseless claims.

However, Rosado denied using any offensive language or unpleasant words, her signed statement said.

Rosado’s lawyer David H. Rosenberg said to the New York Daily News, “My client reported sexual harassment at Avenues World School to her employer and was retaliated against for doing so. She was forced to continue working with her harasser.”

The Compass Group said, “We don’t comment on the specifics of pending claims, but we take allegations of harassment and discrimination very seriously. We have policies in place to prevent any form of harassment and address it when it occurs, which include multiple avenues for associates to report such conduct without fear of retaliation.”

However, Avenues, which apparently costs $43,000 a year, is not named a respondent in the complaint dated Nov. 16.

The same school had hit the headlines last year April when parents of a 14-year-old girl had filed complaint against the organization for expelling their daughter after she was found smoking in the girl’s restroom with “Dora the Explorer” voice actress Fatima Ptacek.

In a similar sexual harassment incident last year, a female managing director at a legal headhunting firm had accused her male boss of sexual harassment. Her boss, Scott Legg had allegedly groped her breasts and threw furniture at her when she refused his advances. He also sent her lewd texts and emails and passed explicit comments. Veronica McILraith, 35, worked at Wegman Partners in New York until her company forced her to leave the job after she complained about her boss's alleged harassment, reported the Daily Mail.