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Trio say CEO sexually harassed them

A suit claims the women were fired after rejecting his advances.

By SCOTT BARANCIK, Times Staff Writer
Published February 21, 2008

TAMPA - Mandatory staff meetings at a Tampa strip club. Birthday cakes shaped like female breasts. Tawdry sexual fantasies confessed, followed by unwanted groping.

It's not the kind of behavior you would expect from an executive-recruitment firm, especially one that supposedly ranks among the Tampa Bay area's best places to work. But a lawsuit filed Tuesday by three former employees of the Gerard Alexander Consulting Firm in Ybor City claims that's exactly what they experienced at the hands of president and CEO Charles G. Windish, 50.

Former office manager Christie Siciliano, 39, executive recruiter Jenice Hill, 30, and executive assistant Andrea Berger, whose age was not given in the lawsuit, claim they were fired within months of one another in 2007 for rejecting Windish's alleged advances.

According to the suit, the women were publicly ostracized for not drinking alcohol and participating in sexual banter at work. Windish allegedly told Berger to "loosen up" and not to be "so professional."

Windish, who had not seen the lawsuit as of Wednesday afternoon, denied any wrongdoing. "The only thing I can tell you is that any such allegations are completely unfounded. We would vigorously defend against any lawsuit like that," he said.

But Jim Wagner, who co-founded the Gerard Alexander firm in 1997, said he was not surprised to hear Windish had been sued for allegedly harassing female staff.

"We split up after five years due to philosophical and ethical differences," he said.

Windish kept the "Gerard Alexander" brand, which the pair had formed by combining their middle names. Wagner went on to form a competing Tampa firm, Alexander Consulting.

The suit accuses Windish of assault and battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress, and charges the Gerard Alexander firm with negligent retention - keeping an employee it should have known was problematic.

Asked why the complaint did not also accuse Windish of violating U.S. and state sexual-harassment laws, Tampa labor lawyer Theresa Gallion on Wednesday guessed it was because businesses with fewer than 15 employees generally are not subject to those statutes. Gallion, a partner at Fisher & Phillips, is not involved in the Windish case.

In 2007, the Tampa Bay Business Journal named Gerard Alexander one of the region's 50 best places to work. The firm was nominated again last month.

Scott Barancik can be reached at barancik@sptimes.com or (727) 893-8751.

[Last modified February 20, 2008, 22:57:45]