Suffolk jury awards $7.5M to Barbara Russo, of Lake Grove, over sexual harassment lawsuit at Tuttnauer USA
Barbara Russo, at her home in Lake Grove on Thursday, was awarded $7.5M in sexual harassment suit against her former employer. Credit: Morgan Campbell
A Suffolk jury awarded $7.5 million in damages to a former employee of a Hauppauge-based medical device manufacturer who alleged a “campaign of sexual harassment” at her workplace, according to court documents filed with the U.S. Eastern District Court in Central Islip.
The plaintiff, Barbara Russo, 65, of Lake Grove, filed a civil suit against Tuttnauer USA and two former executive level employees alleging repeated instances of sexual harassment, the creation of a hostile work environment and one instance of alleged sexual assault over Russo’s 26 years at the company, according to the complaint filed in 2021.
After three weeks of trial, a jury of five men and two women on Wednesday rendered a finding in favor of Russo, Frederick K. Brewington, an attorney for Russo said Thursday.
The suit alleged that Tuttnauer, a maker of machines that sterilize medical and dental equipment, its then-chief financial officer, Kevin Connors, and then-senior vice president, Robert Basile, collectively subjected Russo to “a hostile work environment, sexual harassment” and “retaliation for opposing discrimination based on sex.”
The jury awarded Russo $2.5 million in compensatory damages and another $5 million in punitive damages, Brewington said.
Attorneys Saul D. Zabell and Ryan M. Eden, who represented the defendants in the case, did not respond to requests seeking comment Thursday.
Brewington referred to Tuttnauer’s local office as a workplace culture “permeated with inappropriate sexual overtones.”
“This was one of the most outrageous work environments that I’ve ever had to deal with in some 40 years of practice,” he said. Russo was fired from her job as the controller of the company in February 2018 over a "reorganization," Brewington said.
Russo said Thursday the jury’s verdict was a “vindication.”
“Yesterday was a relief to know that justice was done,” Russo said over the phone with Brewington on the call. Russo said she has been suffering from panic attacks, nightmares and PTSD because of her experiences at Tuttnauer and her firing.
“It was as if I was working in an all-boys club,” she said. “The jokes, the emails, the pictures under the door, the grabbing, the groping … they did whatever they wanted to do and it came from the top.”
The first instance of sexual harassment, according to the complaint, dates to November 1991 when another former vice president allegedly “inappropriately placed his arm around” Russo, and “made unwanted and unwelcome sexual advances” by repeatedly asking Russo to have dinner after work at a house rented by the company.
Among the most alarming of the allegations, Brewington said, concerned Connors.
In 2014, Connors became the company’s CFO, making Russo his subordinate, according to the complaint. From then on, Connors allegedly made “unwanted sexual advances” and became “more aggressive and physical” over the years.
Sometime in 2016, Russo wrote a complaint to then-company president Ran Tuttnauer, but said she was never contacted.
In an incident a week before her firing, Connors allegedly “rubbed his body” against Russo before “forcefully” assaulting and pinning her to a desk, according to the complaint. Russo immediately left for her home, court documents said. Russo did not file a criminal complaint for fear of losing her job, she said Thursday.
Labor and employment attorney Domenique Camacho Moran, partner at Farrell Fritz in Uniondale, said it is uncommon for workplace sexual harassment lawsuits to go to a jury trial.
“This is an exception, not the rule,” Moran said. Often, she said, sexual harassment lawsuits go through a multi-phase process that makes it more likely that attorneys will reach a settlement.
A Suffolk jury awarded $7.5 million in damages to a former employee of a Hauppauge-based medical device manufacturer who alleged a “campaign of sexual harassment” at her workplace, according to court documents filed with the U.S. Eastern District Court in Central Islip.
The plaintiff, Barbara Russo, 65, of Lake Grove, filed a civil suit against Tuttnauer USA and two former executive level employees alleging repeated instances of sexual harassment, the creation of a hostile work environment and one instance of alleged sexual assault over Russo’s 26 years at the company, according to the complaint filed in 2021.
After three weeks of trial, a jury of five men and two women on Wednesday rendered a finding in favor of Russo, Frederick K. Brewington, an attorney for Russo said Thursday.
The suit alleged that Tuttnauer, a maker of machines that sterilize medical and dental equipment, its then-chief financial officer, Kevin Connors, and then-senior vice president, Robert Basile, collectively subjected Russo to “a hostile work environment, sexual harassment” and “retaliation for opposing discrimination based on sex.”
The jury awarded Russo $2.5 million in compensatory damages and another $5 million in punitive damages, Brewington said.
Attorneys Saul D. Zabell and Ryan M. Eden, who represented the defendants in the case, did not respond to requests seeking comment Thursday.
Brewington referred to Tuttnauer’s local office as a workplace culture “permeated with inappropriate sexual overtones.”
“This was one of the most outrageous work environments that I’ve ever had to deal with in some 40 years of practice,” he said. Russo was fired from her job as the controller of the company in February 2018 over a "reorganization," Brewington said.
Russo said Thursday the jury’s verdict was a “vindication.”
“Yesterday was a relief to know that justice was done,” Russo said over the phone with Brewington on the call. Russo said she has been suffering from panic attacks, nightmares and PTSD because of her experiences at Tuttnauer and her firing.
“It was as if I was working in an all-boys club,” she said. “The jokes, the emails, the pictures under the door, the grabbing, the groping … they did whatever they wanted to do and it came from the top.”
The first instance of sexual harassment, according to the complaint, dates to November 1991 when another former vice president allegedly “inappropriately placed his arm around” Russo, and “made unwanted and unwelcome sexual advances” by repeatedly asking Russo to have dinner after work at a house rented by the company.
Among the most alarming of the allegations, Brewington said, concerned Connors.
In 2014, Connors became the company’s CFO, making Russo his subordinate, according to the complaint. From then on, Connors allegedly made “unwanted sexual advances” and became “more aggressive and physical” over the years.
Sometime in 2016, Russo wrote a complaint to then-company president Ran Tuttnauer, but said she was never contacted.
In an incident a week before her firing, Connors allegedly “rubbed his body” against Russo before “forcefully” assaulting and pinning her to a desk, according to the complaint. Russo immediately left for her home, court documents said. Russo did not file a criminal complaint for fear of losing her job, she said Thursday.
Labor and employment attorney Domenique Camacho Moran, partner at Farrell Fritz in Uniondale, said it is uncommon for workplace sexual harassment lawsuits to go to a jury trial.
“This is an exception, not the rule,” Moran said. Often, she said, sexual harassment lawsuits go through a multi-phase process that makes it more likely that attorneys will reach a settlement.
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