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Ex-Legal Assistant Sues Pinellas-Pasco Public Defender

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By STEPHEN THOMPSON

The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 31, 2008

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

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

Dillinger said Wednesday that a lawyer outside his office had been retained to look into her harassment claims, and not one witness could be found who corroborated anything she said happened.

In addition, the federal lawsuit was filed after Schwartz was denied unemployment benefits, Dillinger said. She appealed that decision, he said, but her appeal was denied on the grounds she had no credibility. Also, Schwartz was not fired, as she says in her lawsuit, but quit, Dillinger said.

EEOC Complaint

Dillinger said Schwartz also filed a complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the federal agency that investigates claims of sexual harassment, but it was denied. Dillinger also took issue with several other claims in the lawsuit.

After Schwartz made her allegations, Dillinger said, he had to separate all the employees involved in the case during an investigation. 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 Schwartz liked working the phone in the operations division. But 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. On several occasions, she says, she told Bulnes not to touch her.

Pole Dance Suggestion

Bulnes and another lawyer, 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 says.

Schwartz says 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 lawyers. It was then that she was fired, she says.

Schwartz contends the reassignment and the termination were the result of her having complained about the two lawyers. 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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