Crescent Township Hires Attorney to Investigate Employee Harassment Allegations

Crescent commissioners have retained an attorney to investigate hostile workplace and harassment allegations made by township employees. 

Commissioners during their December meeting agreed to hiring special counsel Barbara Graham to investigate harassment charges made by staff members. 

Specifics of the allegations, which employees have made the claims, and the investigation itself were not immediately available. 

Bill Cook, president of the Board of Commissioners, declined to comment and referred Patch to township Solicitor Richard Start. Start and other Crescent commissioners could not be reached for comment. 

Pittsburgh-based attorney Charles Steele said he is representing township Manager Patience Eckhardt and has filed an intake form—a preliminary step—with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission regarding a "hostile work environment claim." 

"The township is investigating the claim, and we have cooperated," Steele said 

Steele declined to comment further on the matter. Eckhardt also said she could not comment. 

The intake form is not available as a public record, according to the EEOC communications office. Filing the intake form does not mean a formal charge has been made, but it enables the commission to determine if a claim is covered by laws it is empowered to enforce. 

The hostile work environment allegation is the second labor-related complaint recently filed by township employees. Teamsters Local 205, which represents Crescent Police, filed and later dropped an unfair labor practice charge against Crescent Township in 2012.