Bill would require local government board members to be told of sexual harassment cases

ALBANY — State Sen. James Gaughran has introduced legislation to require local government boards to inform all elected members, not just members of the majority party, of proved sexual harassment complaints against employees.

The bill comes after Huntington Town Councilwoman Joan Cergol, a Democrat, said last week that she and most other board members weren’t informed that Republican Supervisor Chad Lupinacci had handled an accusation against a town employee. The exception was Councilman Ed Smyth, a Republican, who said Lupinacci informed him of the accusation involving an email in early December. Lupinacci declined to comment.

Gaughran’s bill would require that any proved sexual harassment claim be reported to the full governing board, such as a town or village board or county legislature.

The measure would cover violations of the local government’s policy as well as violations of state law. Gaughran (D-Northport) is chairman of the Senate’s Local Government Committee, where the bill will be debated.

Gaughran said in an interview that local government board members need to know of such actions because any disciplinary action could result in multimillion dollar lawsuits.

“The buck stops with them,” Gaughran said of board members. “If they don’t know the problem exists, that’s a real problem. … You have to have your elected officials solve problems. If not, it’s nothing but a cover-up.”

Assemb. Fred Thiele (I-Sag Harbor) will sponsor the bill in the state Assembly, a Thiele spokesman said.

By Michael Gormley

michael.gormley@newsday.com@GormleyAlbany

Michael Gormley has worked for Newsday since 2013, covering state government, politics and issues. He has covered Albany since 2001.