University Times

A former employee in the Office of Institutional Advancement has filed a sexual discrimination lawsuit against the University in connection with her firing.

In the suit, filed in U.S. District Court on Sept. 13, Draga Luksic of Wilkinsburg admits to engaging in a personal relationship with her supervisor, David Raible, while she was working in Institutional Advancement from August 1992 through February 1994.

The lawsuit alleges that Luksic, as a female, was sexually discriminated against by the University in violation of federal civil rights laws when she was fired as a result of her relationship with her male supervisor, while her male supervisor (Raible) was "treated favorably even though he engaged in the same practices." According to the termination letter from Vice Chancellor for Institutional Advancement Lawrence Weber that was filed with the suit, Luksic was notified on Dec. 20, 1993 "that University policy precludes a personal relationship between a supervisor and a subordinate." Weber's letter, dated Feb. 14, 1994, goes on to say that Luksic continued to work at the University after Dec. 20, 1993, "with the clear understanding that continued employment was possible only in another department or by cessation of the employer-employee relationship." While Luksic admits in the suit that she was notified she would either have to transfer out of Institutional Advancement or end her relationship with Raible if she wanted to continue working in that office, the lawsuit claims she was never told she had to take either action by a certain date.

According to the suit, Luksic was actively seeking employment in another department when she was terminated by Weber. Raible left Pitt on Aug. 16, 1994. The lawsuit seeks in excess of $50,000 in compensatory damages, attorney's fees and punitive damages.

"The bizarre thing that we can't figure out is that the termination letter talks about University policy, yet the University has said to both the Post-Gazette and Channel 11 news that there is no such policy," said Douglas Austin, Luksic's attorney.

The Office of General Counsel has not yet received a copy of Luksic's complaint, so declined comment on it. Because the issue is in litigation, Pitt's Director of Communications Ken Service also refused to comment on the suit. But Service did say that there is no University policy that forbids an employee from dating his or her supervisor.

The Luksic lawsuit is the second one involving sexual issues that has been filed against the University in the past seven months.

Lori Stilley, a former Pitt employee and graduate student from York County, filed sexual harassment charges March 13 against Anthony Petrosky, a faculty member who holds joint appointments in the School of Education's Department of Instruction and Learning, and the English department.

In that suit, Stilley alleges that Petrosky sexually harassed her for four years, from January 1990 through May 1994, and then sabotaged her academic career and fired her after she refused his advances.

John Greeno, a member of the University's Office of General Counsel, said the Petrosky case is currently in the discovery phase in which attorneys for both sides take depositions. He said no trial date has been set. –Mike Sajna