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Male NJ Guard's Sexual Harassment Suit Settled for $425,000
On December 6, 1999, the New Jersey Department of Corrections agreed to pay $425,000 to Mid State Correctional Facility employee Thomas Ferri, 55, to settle his sexual harassment suit against the prison. Ferri, an internal affairs investigator at the prison, claimed he was sexually harassed by his supervisor, Deborah A. Davey, the chief of the prisons internal affairs unit. Ferri claimed Davey would remove her undergarments in his presence, use obscene language and make uncomplimentary remarks about his genitals.
After Ferri filed a civil rights suit alleging he was subjected to a hostile work environment, Davey retaliated by transferring him to a state prison in Trenton, ransacking his office, taping his calls and threatening him.
As part of the settlement the state of New Jersey admitted to no wrongdoing and Ferri agreed to retire.
Sexual harassment claims by men are sometimes referred to as "reverse discrimination" suits and comprise about 15% of all sexual harassment suits. The largest jury verdict ever awarded in a "reverse discrimination" suit involved Robert Lockley, a guard at the same prison in New Jersey who was awarded $3,750,000 in damages and $822,000 in attorney fees after he proved he was sexually harassed by a female guard at the prison and retaliated against by supervisors when he complained. [PLN, Dec. 1999].
Source: Courier-Post
After Ferri filed a civil rights suit alleging he was subjected to a hostile work environment, Davey retaliated by transferring him to a state prison in Trenton, ransacking his office, taping his calls and threatening him.
As part of the settlement the state of New Jersey admitted to no wrongdoing and Ferri agreed to retire.
Sexual harassment claims by men are sometimes referred to as "reverse discrimination" suits and comprise about 15% of all sexual harassment suits. The largest jury verdict ever awarded in a "reverse discrimination" suit involved Robert Lockley, a guard at the same prison in New Jersey who was awarded $3,750,000 in damages and $822,000 in attorney fees after he proved he was sexually harassed by a female guard at the prison and retaliated against by supervisors when he complained. [PLN, Dec. 1999].
Source: Courier-Post
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Related legal case
Case Name Unknown
| Year | 1999 |
|---|---|
| Level | State Trial Court |
| Conclusion | Settlement |
| Damages | 425000 |
| Injunction Status | N/A |