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By JOE SYLVESTER jsylvester@leader.net
Saturday, February 05, 2000 Page: 5A
SCRANTON – A federal judge has dismissed a sexual harassment lawsuit
against Dallas Elementary School principal Sam Barbose, saying the issue is
covered under state statute, not federal law.
U.S. Middle District Court Chief Judge Thomas I. Vanaskie ruled Tammy
Dickson’s claim concerned individual liability under the state’s employment
discrimination law, “an issue that does not arise under federal law.”
“It’s a jurisdictional question,” said Barbose’s attorney, Stephen L.
Gross of Harrisburg, noting it was up to Dickson to pursue the case in the
Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas.
Dickson accused Barbose in 1996 of sexually harassing her when she worked
as a long-term substitute at Westmoreland Elementary School. Contacted on
Friday, she deferred comment to her attorney, A. Martin Herring of
Philadelphia, who was unavailable.
Dickson, of Trucksville in Kingston Township, was seeking more than
$300,000 in damages in the lawsuit, in which she claimed Barbose made
unwelcome sexual comments, touched her without permission and created a
hostile work environment for her during the 1995-96 school year. Barbose, of
Shavertown, Kingston Township, was the principal of Westmoreland, where
Dickson taught fourth grade.
School officials transferred Barbose to Dallas Elementary and suspended him
for 60 days without pay after determining in May 1996 he was in violation of
school policy.
The lawsuit initially included the School District as a defendant, alleging
retaliation by Barbose and the district. Dickson said she was denied a
teaching position and lost her job after she reported the alleged harassment
to the administration.
Call Sylvester at 829-7219.