An employee of the Onancock municipality has filed a lawsuit against the town, the Town Council and the Mayor, Bruce Paone, amongst others for alleged sexual harassment, assault and abuse over a period of several years.
Steven Key seeks $17.4 million in compensatory damage and another $1 million in punitive damages in the lawsuit filed in Accomack Circuit Court.
While Key worked at the town as a laborer, he alleges he was verbally and physically abused by the town manager Susan Scott as well as two employees Dewey Bordstrom and Kevin Meindorf whom he has also named as defendants in the lawsuit.
The two employees taunted Key by calling him a homosexual and on several occasions they even attempted to sexually abuse him. The town manager knew about the abuse but failed to punish Bordstrom and Meindorf. In fact, the lawsuit alleges that Scott confronted Key and demanded to know if he had ever had sexual intercourse with a female. When he replied in the negative she joined Bordstrom and Meindorf in verbally and physically abusing Key.
Key finally resigned his job in 2007 and afterward filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). He filed his lawsuit on 16 October this year.
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