CHEEKTOWAGA, N.Y. — A local town supervisor is suing her own town employee over a claim of sexual harassment.
Cheektowaga's Supervisor Diane Benczkowski says she is the victim and wants to make sure this does not happen to another town staffer.
She displayed to 2 On Your Side the forms she says she got back from the State's Division of Human Rights, which formally states there is "probable cause with a claim of unlawful discrimination relating to employment because of sex - in other words sexual harassment - with the need to investigate and hold a hearing."
There are actually two claims filed against the town and an employee of the town highway department who we are not yet identifying.
The alleged incident happened in 2019 with one of Benczkowski's campaign advertisement stickers.
The Supervisor says "He had posted a picture of my Cheektowaga Bee ad into the urinal at the highway department. I'm not accusing him of putting it there. What I'm accusing him of is taking the picture and posting it with a derogatory comment on Facebook for everyone to see."
Benczkowski says she originally went to the town coordinator of employee relations but contends nothing happened. That person has since retired.
So she filed those formal complaints with the state - the second dealing with alleged retaliation against her. "After the defendant got notified by the state DHR - the division of human rights that I had filed a complaint, he posted it on several social media sites. That's retaliation and made things worse for me and my family."
Benczkowski is upset with the town government overall - even though she is again technically the leader of that town. And she is now also seeking thousands of dollars in compensation for her legal fees after hiring a second attorney to handle her case.
The Supervisor asked, "Why wasn't this investigated? Why wasn't the employee disciplined? And nobody should have to go through that. If anybody believes sexual harassment should not be tolerated then they should be doing something about it. I can't because I'm the one that filed them. So I can't discipline this employee."
2 On Your Side raised the point that ultimately town taxpayers may be asked to pay for her legal fees as part of a settlement. "Technically is being sued. Does this put you in a bad place with taxpayers?"
Benczkowski replied, "Yes. I feel that. But I also have to protect my own employees so that does not happen to any other employee. And unfortunately as I told you - I did not want to go to that route."
We are reaching out to other town officials to get their response as well. Technically they might be parties to these complaints and any legal action for compensation.