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Pinellas-Pasco Public Defender Sued By Former Employee

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By STEPHEN THOMPSON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 30, 2008

Updated: 07/30/2008 02:38 pm

TAMPA - A former legal assistant in Pinellas-Pasco Public Defender Bob Dillinger's office has filed a federal lawsuit against him, claiming she was retaliated against after complaining that male attorneys had made sexually-degrading remarks to her.

Jessica A. Schwartz filed the lawsuit against Dillinger in U.S. District Court in Tampa on Tuesday.

Dillinger said today that a lawyer outside his office was retained to look into her claims and not one witness could be found who corroborated anything she says happened.

In addition, Dillinger said, the federal lawsuit was filed after the woman was denied unemployment benefits. She appealed that decision, but her appeal was denied on the grounds she had no credibility, Dillinger said. Among other things, the woman was not fired, as she says in her lawsuit, but quit on her own volition, Dillinger said.

The woman also filed a complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission – the federal agency that typically investigates claims of sexual harassment – but the complaint was denied. The EEOC found no evidence of discrimination or harassment, Dillinger said.

Dillinger also took issue with several claims in the suit.

After she made her allegations, Dillinger said, he had to separate all the employees involved in the case while an investigation got under way. Schwartz worked in the misdemeanor section and was offered a job in the felony section, which she turned down.

Schwartz says in the lawsuit that she was told to take a position in the phone room, which she didn't like. Dillinger said the opposite was true – that the woman liked working the phone in the operations division. She quit while she was there.

According to Schwartz's lawsuit, after she was hired in January 2007, her boss, Alan Bulnes, frequently touched her and asked her to come into his office even though it was unnecessary to do so, a copy of the lawsuit states. On several occasions, she says, she told Bulnes not to touch her.

Bulnes and another attorney, Brett Berger, also had a conversation with Schwartz in which they suggested she pole-dance in her office like a stripper, the lawsuit states. Bulnes also is said to have told her that she was the "hottest" legal assistant in the office and the female employee he would most like to jump and rape, the lawsuit states.

She said in the lawsuit that after she was moved out of the misdemeanor section, she complained about the new assignment and about no action being taken against either of the male attorneys, the lawsuit states. It was then she was fired, she said.

Schwartz contends the reassignment and the termination were the result of her having complained about the two attorneys. She is seeking back pay plus interest and an undisclosed amount in damages.

Reporter Stephen Thompson can be reached at (727) 451-2336 or spthompson@tampatrib.com.

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