VERO BEACH — A city clerk’s employee on medical leave is suing the city, contending she was sexually harassed while the city did nothing to help her, according to court files.

Janet Bickford said that starting in November 2007 an unnamed city board member began making repeated “sexual innuendoes,” culminating with the man allegedly kissing her on her lips against her will, according to a civil lawsuit filed in Indian River Circuit Court on Sept. 16.

Then, she said, city officials belittled her complaints, causing her distress.

She is asking for back pay and benefits and an unspecified amount of damages.

City officials referred questions about the civil rights lawsuit to the City Attorney’s Office.

City Attorney Charles Vitunac declined comment, saying the city hasn’t yet been officially notified of the lawsuit.

Her attorney, Joseph Mancini, of Fort Pierce, didn’t return phone calls.

A hearing date hasn’t been set before Circuit Judge Paul Kanarek.

Bickford’s lawsuit contends that city officials didn’t heed her repeated complaints, which included calling the police department during February 2008.

Bickford went on medical leave, returning in May 2008 when she met with unnamed officials in the Human Resources Department.

In that meeting, according to the lawsuit, she was confronted with “a barage of insulting and degrading comments”.

Those included suggestions that her physical actions enticed men, the lawsuit said. Following the meeting she returned to medical leave.

“Rather than fulfill its legal obligations to … Bickford, the city engaged in a continuous pattern of retaliation designed to make her continued employment intolerable,” the lawsuit states.

Bickford starting working for the city as a cashier in the city’s Utility Department during April 2001. Later, she worked at the front counter of the Police Department and was a phone receptionist at the clerk’s office. She is married to city police Officer Doug Bickford, a Police Department employee said.

During her employment, she was “an excellent employee and always received good job evaluations,” according to the lawsuit.

By Elliott Jones

Tags: back pay, benefits, city boardmember, clerk's employee, complaints, human resources, kissing, lawsuit, medical leave, sexual harrassment, unspecified damages

This entry was posted on Monday, October 12th, 2009 at 10:46 am and is filed under Crime, Vero Beach. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.