Schuylkill County is pulling $250,000 from its contingency fund to pay for Human Resources services mandated by its January settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice over sexual discrimination.

The move was announced at a public meeting Wednesday by Financial Director Paul E. Buber.

County Administrator Gary R. Bender noted that $30,000 of the sum was for current costs, while the remainder is for the estimated amount that will be owed by year’s end.

“So this should cover it, but it’s uncertain?” asked Commissioner Gary J. Hess.

“It’s our best estimate,” Bender answered.

Buber said the money was for “additional expenses in connection with professional services for training, development of policies, (Human Resources) services, and labor negotiations.”

He said the firms involved include Reading Berks HR Management; Flamm, Walton and Heimbach; McNees, Wallace and Nurick; and Employment Practices Group.

Employment Practices charges $450 an hour plus expenses, and McNees, Wallace and Nurick charges $380 an hour.

There was money included in the Human Resources budget for “most of these services. But most of the funds that were allocated have been expended, so therefore there is a need to transfer some additional money from contingency to cover what we anticipate is our best guess between now and the end of the year,” Buber said.

Bender said the “expenses were unknown” when the county was determining budget allocations.

The DOJ’s involvement stemmed from a federal sexual harassment lawsuit filed by four women who work at the courthouse. They filed the suit in U.S. District Court, Scranton, in March 2021, alleging Commissioner George F. Halcovage Jr. sexually harassed them from the time he was first elected in 2012.

An addition to the suit was filed in October 2021 contending they were discriminated and retaliated against for filing the initial suit. That retaliation included two of them being demoted, accused of missing, refusing town software, and suspended without pay in September 2021.

The settlement between the county and the DOJ affects only them; it has nothing to do with the ongoing sexual harassment lawsuit, which continues to wend its was through the judicial process, with a recent attempt at settlement failing in June.

The DOJ joined the suit in May 2022, alleging the county violated the women’s Title VII rights, based on a determination by the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission.

The DOJ agreed to settle with the county in January.

The 35-page settlement included that the county had offered an $850,000 settlement to the women in addition to their attorney’s fees and court costs; that the county agreed to not discriminate on the basis of sex; that it select an employer to serve as its equal opportunity, equal employment opportunity officer; that it hire at its own expense a DOJ approved consulting firm to craft anti-harassment and anti-retaliation employment policies and conduct anti-harassment, and anti-retaliation training.

The settlement also included procedures for complaints and investigations; required remedial actions; training requirements; and that the county draft and distribute to all county employees policies covering sexual harassment and discrimination.

The settlement also includes restrictions on Halcovage, that he will not abuse, harass, stalk or threaten the women; contact with them by telephone or any other means, and that any communication necessitated by their employment will be through a third-party. It also requires him to undergo 90 days of personal training on sexual-harassment and retaliation to be developed and administered by the consultant. He’s also not allowed to go into any of the offices were any of the women work.