Tax assessor sues New Castle County for sexual harassment over boss’s profane texts

The property tax assessor’s lawsuit alleges Susan Oberlander was subjected to sexual harassment and then retaliated against when she sought promotions.

exterior of the government office building

The New Castle County government building in New Castle, Delaware. (New Castle County Facebook)

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Susan Oberlander, a property tax assessor for New Castle County, was disgusted by a flurry of profanity-laced texts she says she received from her boss, John Farnan, one night in July 2022.

Oberlander says she had previously informed Farnan not to text her on her personal cell phone because his messages that were unrelated to work made her uncomfortable. Instead, he disregarded her demands, and inappropriate remarks soon became “sexual in nature” and increasingly aggressive, she now alleges in a federal lawsuit.

Among Farnan’s texts, which included vulgar ones that WHYY News is not publishing, he allegedly wrote:

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  • “If I get drunk and raunchy please give me a pass.”
  • “I need to take you for a sub or something cause dude I was close to hey, wanna get naked.”
  • “You are hot as f—”

Two days later, the lawsuit claims that Farnan emailed Oberlander and asked her to text him, but she informed him that their texting days were over.

Farnan stopped texting for a few months, but starting at 4:21 a.m. on Nov. 8, the lawsuit states that Farnan sent 64 messages to Oberlander, many filled with misspellings and some soliciting sex.

Among them, Farnan allegedly wrote:

  • “Want to screww around”;
  • “Give me a dude pass”;
  • “Would you ever be John you are drunk but if you pay 500 I’d show you my boobs?”;
  • “I’m an dirty guy who just loves naked people”;
  • “You probably think I’m a drunk asshole and I would go with that but you are cute so go with that.”

That bombardment was too much for Oberlander, so she reported her boss’s sexual harassment to his supervisor. That led to his demotion more than four months later to the same job she has — a position that puts her in “continued contact with Mr. Farnan by way of department meetings, internal communications, work events, and other such means,” her lawsuit says.

Since then, Oberlander has sought promotions twice, but her lawsuit says she was passed over by less qualified co-workers.

That sequence of events that began in 2022 culminated last week with Oberlander suing three top government officials — County Executive Matt Meyer, Chief Financial Officer Michael R. Smith and former human resources chief Jacqueline Jenkins. Farnan is not named as a defendant.

Oberlander’s filing in U.S. District Court in Wilmington charges that she was subject to sexual harassment, gender discrimination, a hostile work environment and retaliation.

The lawsuit didn’t cite any specific acts by Meyer that pertained to how the county handled her complaint against Farnan or her bids to get promoted.

Oberlander claimed, however, that Meyer permits “the willful suppression of complaints of sexual harassment by female employees. As a result, female employees are discouraged from filing complaints due to continued fear of retaliation and retribution.”

Oberlander further alleged that “Meyer and his administration continue to turn a blind eye to blatant acts of sexual harassment which includes male supervisors propositioning female subordinates for sex and naked photos.”

Meyer, who is running in a three-way Democratic gubernatorial primary against Lt. Gov. Bethany Hall-Long and former state environmental protection chief Collin O’Mara, would not comment on the lawsuit or the accusations against him.

Instead, county spokesman Brian Cunningham said in a written statement that Meyer and Smith “were included in this lawsuit without merit” and the county would file a motion seeking their removal from the case.

Meyer’s top aide, Vanessa Phillips, issued this written statement about Farnan’s conduct and the county’s response to the complaints Oberlander made in 2022:

“Inappropriate behavior like this is not tolerated in our workplace and the Meyer administration has had systems in place for years to protect our employees,” said Phillips, the county’s chief administrative officer.

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“More than two years ago, when Ms. Oberlander reported these concerns, an investigation was conducted and severe disciplinary action was issued by the Office of Human Resources. In fact, an outside monitor working with the County and the Delaware Department of Justice concluded that the County took appropriate action to protect the complainant from further issues with the sanctioned employee,” Phillips said.

“We’re going to do everything we can to protect the interest of taxpayers and make sure every employee who comes to New Castle County continues to be safe,” she added.

WHYY News asked Farnan, who still works for the county, for his response to the accusations in the lawsuit. “I have no understanding of this,’’ Farnan responded by email, without elaboration. He did not respond to follow-up questions.

Before filing her lawsuit, Oberlander had also filed complaints with the Delaware Department of Labor and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

In May, Jason Atallian of the Department of Labor’s Office of Anti-Discrimination ruled that Farnan’s conduct was “severe or pervasive enough to create a work environment that a reasonable person would consider intimidating, hostile or abusive,’’ and that Oberland had established unspecified “employer liability.”

Though one of Oberlander’s allegations was that it took the county more than four months to investigate her complaints and even longer to demote Farnan, Atallian ruled she did not establish that “enduring the offensive conduct became a condition of continued employment.”

Atallian later ruled that the evidence presented by Oberlander “did not establish reasonable cause to believe” the county retaliated against Oberlander or violated anti-discrimination laws by not promoting her.

Oberlander is seeking compensatory and punitive damages for an unspecified amount, and a declaration that the county violated her civil rights. She and her attorney, Michele D. Allen, did not respond to a request for comment about the case.

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