PHILADELPHIA (PA)
PennLive.com
October 20, 2023
By Jan Murphy
Gov. Josh Shapiro’s administration agreed to pay $295,000 in taxpayer funds to settle a sexual harassment complaint from a female former deputy secretary involving a former top aide in his office, according to documents obtained through the state’s Right to Know Law.
The 14-page document, signed on Sept. 5, stipulated that neither the commonwealth nor the governor’s office would be held liable for any wrongdoing regarding the allegations she made against Shapiro’s former Secretary of Legislative Affairs Mike Vereb.
The agreement contains a clause barring both sides from discussing the matter; however, it allows for the settlement to be released if there is a legal requirement, such as the Right to Know Law, to do so.
The settlement reached through the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission mediation process closes the matter, barring any litigation or charges arising from the woman’s claims against the governor’s office. PennLive is withholding her name due to the nature of the allegations.
“The commonwealth confirms the existence of a settlement agreement but due to its terms, is unable to comment further on this agreement,” said Shapiro spokesman Manuel Bonder.
He further stated that in mediation, no party is required to settle claims “but it is often in the best interest of both parties to do so. Further, a settlement requires both parties to agree to all of the statements, provisions and assertions contained therein. Mediation programs do not focus on the validity of the underlying claims but attempt to craft a settlement that all parties can agree on.”
Funding to pay the settlement will come in part out of the budget for the governor’s office but mostly out of the commonwealth’s self-insured liability program, according to administration officials.
Sources familiar with resolving sexual harassment cases in both the public and private sectors say settlements can be an attractive option for a variety of reasons. It is a way to manage the risk given the uncertainty of an outcome if a case goes to court. It can be less damaging to reputations. Litigation can be time-consuming with cases taking no fewer than three years to reach a conclusion. Among others, protracted litigation can be costly.
The former employee accused Vereb, a longtime Shapiro confidant, of subjecting her to lewd and sexually inappropriate comments and unwanted sexual advances during the few weeks that she worked for the administration.
In the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission complaint filed in June, the woman said she was retaliated against when she complained to administration officials. She resigned in early March after 27 days, saying she couldn’t continue working in that environment.
The woman’s attorney, Charles Pascal of Armstrong County, confirmed the settlement but declined to comment further pursuant to the terms of the settlement. The settlement provides a $196,365 payment to the woman and $49,517 to each of the two law firms she had hired to represent her through this process.
Vereb, who declined comment for this story, resigned his $183,708-a-year Cabinet-level post in late September as the woman’s human relations commission complaint began being circulated with media outlets. The announcement of his departure from the governor’s office made no mention of the allegations, but focused on his role helping achieve Shapiro’s legislative accomplishments.
The woman, who worked in the legislative affairs office, said in a statement attached to the Human Relations complaint that Vereb’s inappropriate behavior began shortly after she began working for the Shapiro administration.
She cited instances where she said Vereb made inappropriate statements in staff meetings, including one in which she alleged he said that Sen. Katie Muth, D-Montgomery County, wanted to have sex with him. Muth called the insinuation the accuser made about her “a degrading lie.”
A former staff member, who was at the meeting, said the sexual reference the woman attributed to Vereb “never came out of his mouth. None of that came out of his mouth. I don’t know where she got that from.”