By Joe Pinchot
The Herald
PITTSBURGH — A former corrections officer at the state prison in Findley Township never reported the harassing conduct that she outlined in a federal civil rights suit, the prison said in its answer.
In one incident in which Amanda Kulkin filed a complaint, a fellow staff member was disciplined, the prison said.
Kulkin, now of Florida and formerly of New Castle, sued in October alleging sexual harassment, hostile work environment, disparate treatment and retaliation.
She was hired Sept. 3, 2006, as a corrections officer and resigned Sept. 30, 2012, although she called her leaving a “constructive discharge” because of the hostile work environment.
Kulkin claimed she was subject to repeated sexual comments and verbal and written catcalls about her appearance in person or over the radio.
She was called “a festering wound in the taxpayer’s side” and accused of abusing the leave policy in a mock online news post. Someone also created a fake business card and other printed materials taking pot shots at her, the suit said.
Kulkin never filed any reports of harassment or discrimination, the prison said, noting it has a mechanism for doing so. She “unreasonably failed to avail herself of that policy with respect to all of her claims,” the prison said.
She claimed a fellow corrections officer was not disciplined for placing Kulkin on a transfer list, but the prison said he was disciplined by counseling. “It is specifically denied that the act of placing her on the transfer list was harassment,” the prison said.
The prison also said some of the specific instances she claimed could not have occurred. A sergeant who purportedly said he needed to watch her working a job in the yard because she is a woman was not working at Findley Township at the time, the prison said.
Another employee, a man who is accused of asking Kulkin if she wanted “to see what’s in my front middle pocket” was deployed overseas with the Army, the prison said.
The prison said Kulkin voluntarily resigned Nov. 27, 2012.