Schuylkill County Commissioner George F. Halcovage Jr. has asked the court to deny a request by the U.S. Department of Justice to join the sexual harassment suit filed against him by four women who work in the courthouse.

The women are identified as Jane Doe 1, Jane Doe 2, Jane Doe 3, and Jane Doe 4.

A judge has yet to rule on the DOJ’s April 1 request to intervene.

Halcovage’s 13-page response was filed April 4 in the U.S. District Court, Scranton by his attorney, Gerard J. Geiger of Newman/Williams, Stroudsburg.

“It serves no purpose. Intervention would only be appropriate if the court concluded that the plaintiffs’ law firm could not adequately represent the plaintiffs’ interests,” Geiger wrote.

On the filing of the original lawsuit filed March 16, 2021, and amended complaints filed on April 16, 2021, and Oct. 29, 2021, he wrote that the Jane Does “waited nearly a decade before complaining they were the victims of sexual harassment. They include claims where they do not even know the year when they interacted with Commissioner Halcovage. They have few documents to support the timing or substance of their interactions. The U.S. either did not consider or did not conclude that such evidence was critical to its investigation, having made a decision that considered only plaintiffs’ version of what occurred.”

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission asked the DOJ to intervene in the suit after an unsuccessful attempt to conciliate the charges. It had investigated them and found reasonable cause to believe that they occurred, according to the DOJ’s request.

Geiger wrote that the “EEOC did a partial investigation that credited plaintiffs’ claims but without giving Halcovage an opportunity to respond or provide evidence that contradicts those claims.”

As to the Assistant Attorney General who filed the DOJ request, Geiger wrote that she did so based solely on the Jane Does’ contentions.

“A good-faith investigation would have provided all interested parties with an opportunity to explain events,” he wrote.

Further, the DOJ’s request was not filed in a timely manner, Geiger contends.

“Allowing the DOJ into the case now, with a June discovery deadline, when the EEOC was aware of the claims before the complaints were filed, is untimely. DOJ intervention would add nothing to the case because the very same claims are already being pursued by a Philadelphia employment law firm,” he wrote.

“The DOJ could have intervened a year ago but did not. That is not timely,” Geiger wrote.

In its request to join the lawsuit, the DOJ demands a jury trial, and to stop the county from causing, creating, or condoning a sexually or retaliatory hostile work environment.

It could also order the county to develop and implement appropriate and effective measures designed to prevent and correct harassment and retaliation, including, but not limited to, policies and training for employees and managers; order the county to develop appropriate and effective measures to receive complaints of discrimination, harassment, or retaliation, as well as a process for investigating such complaints.

The DOJ also wants the court to award compensatory damages to the women to “fully compensate them for their injuries caused by the county’s discriminatory and retaliatory conduct” and to award “any additional equitable relief necessary to make the plaintiffs whole,” in addition to “such additional relief as justice may require, together with the United States’ costs and disbursements in this action.”

Commissioners have accused two of the women, whose names have since been made public, of making unauthorized searched using the county’s sophisticated database software. In November, they launched an investigation into the searches, which revealed the personal information of not only the search subjects, but of their friends and neighbors, which the software, LexisNexis, automatically provides. That’s why the 300 searches done may have compromised 9,146 people.

on March 9, commissioners hired Experian for a total of $277,894 to notify the people.

That same day, a motion to fire the two women, who have been identified by Commissioner Gary J. Hess and citizens speaking at public meetings as Tax Claim Director Angela Toomey and Assistant Director Denise McGinley-Gerchak, failed when Hess opposed the move, Halcovage abstained, and Commissioners’ Chairman Barron L. Hetherington voted in favor.

The county Human Resources Department in June 2020 determined Halcovage violated the sexual harassment, conduct and disciplinary action, and the physical and verbal abuse policies.

In January, the procedure to impeach Halcovage began, initiated by state Sen. David G. Argall. Lawmakers have subpoenaed an “extensive list” of items from the county.