Miami administrator resigning after he was sued over alleged sexual harassment
A Miami city employee has accused her former boss of trading sexual favors for promises of a promotion, one of several harassment allegations detailed in a lawsuit recently filed against the city and a department director who resigned this week.
The 36-page lawsuit, filed on April 14 in the U.S. District Court’s Southern District of Florida, contains accusations that Solid Waste Director Mario Núñez, whose last day is May 27, verbally abused and sexually assaulted Michelle Glenn, 38, who worked as a manager under Núñez for three years. The complaint paints a portrait of a high-level administrator abusing his position to pressure his employee into sexual activity in and out of the office.
In the lawsuit, first reported by legal news website Florida Record, Glenn alleges that Núñez created a hostile working environment during her first year in the department in 2015, and in 2016. She said Núñez would refuse to meet regularly to discuss city business, leave documents unsigned, spread rumors about her around the office and call her “incompetent” and a “whore.”
According to the complaint, after Glenn complained to an assistant city manager in October 2016, Núñez began sexually harassing her in December. Núñez is accused of groping her after inviting her to his office after hours to sign paperwork, and later coercing her to perform oral sex on him multiple times a week for five months while promising he would hire her as the department’s assistant director. At the same time, Glenn alleges that Núñez increased her workload so she was doing the work of an assistant director without a pay increase.
Glenn says in June 2017, Núñez referenced the arrangement in a text message that read: “We have plenty of time to do the AD paperwork .... Congratulations in advance!”
The lawsuit details unwanted sexual advances in the city’s administrative offices, during offsite lunch breaks and in the backseat of Glenn’s car outside Miami City Hall during city commission meetings.
“To be sure, this was not a relationship between two consenting adults,” reads the lawsuit, which characterizes their interaction as a “transaction” of oral sex in exchange for a job — a situation Glenn says she participated in for fear of losing her job.
“Moreover, as an unclassified, salaried employee without overtime, compensation time, or union protection, Ms. Glenn was coerced to follow the director’s orders merely to keep a roof over her head,” the lawsuit states.
Glenn, a Black woman of Jamaican origin, never got the assistant director job. The city hired a Hispanic woman, Jennifer Moy, the sister of Sean Moy, the president of the the city’s general employees labor union.
Glenn said she was diagnosed with anxiety and depression and had to take leave for several months. In October 2017, she filed a sexual harassment and race discrimination complaint with the city’s office of equal opportunity and diversity programs. The outcome of that complaint is unclear. When Glenn returned to work in January 2018, she was transferred to another city department that works directly with residents to address service issues. Glenn contends the transfer was retaliation for her complaint.
Núñez and the city of Miami are both named defendants in the lawsuit. City attorneys are not representing Núñez.
Reached by phone on Friday, Núñez did not respond to the allegations.
“At this point in time, at my attorney’s advice, I’m not making any comments,” he said.
City Attorney Victoria Méndez did not respond to requests for comment.
Núñez informed City Manager Art Noriega of his resignation Tuesday. The next day, the city manager told the Miami Herald Núñez had resigned voluntarily, and suggested the department needed a change in direction. Noriega did not mention the lawsuit.
“I wish him a lot of success. He’s genuinely a good guy. I think he’s a hard worker,” he said. “But we’ll find a good replacement for him.”
When asked about the lawsuit on Friday, Noriega told a reporter he was aware of the litigation when Núñez resigned, but it had nothing to do with his resignation.
“As I mentioned to you when we spoke, Mario’s resignation was voluntary and it had absolutely nothing to do with the litigation that was filed,” Noriega said. “I was aware of the litigation and that particular situation has been ongoing for quite some time. It had nothing to do with his departure.”
On Friday. Glenn’s attorney said she was “shocked and appalled” by the environment described by Glenn.
“We fully intend to prove that Ms. Glenn was subjected to a sexually harassing environment, created as a result of an overwhelming abuse of power and authority by her supervisor, Mario Núñez,” said attorney Caroline H. Miller, of Derek Smith Law Group. “We commend Ms. Glenn for coming forward and openly discussing her experience. I can only hope her courage inspires others to do the same. We are confident the truth will be exposed and look forward to presenting her claims in court.”
Read the full lawsuit below.
This story was originally published April 30, 2021 at 6:08 PM.
