Shocking Allegations of Sexual Harassment, Cover-Ups, and Political Bullying in Lawsuit Filed Against Halcovage, Schuylkill County Officials

Earlier this week, 4 women identified as Schuylkill County government employees filed a federal lawsuit alleging persistent sexual harassment by Commissioner George Halcovage. Other Schuylkill County officials are implicated in the lawsuit, too, including:

• Schuylkill County Solicitor Glenn Roth
• Schuylkill County Administrator Gary Bender
• Interim HR Director Doreen Kutzler
• Current HR Director Heidi Zula

In our breaking news reports, we detailed graphic sexual harassment claims made against Halcovage by one of the Plaintiffs in the lawsuit, identified as Jane Doe. That employee claims Halcovage, on two occasions, forced her to perform oral sex on him.

• READ: Jane Doe: Halcovage Forced Me to Perform Oral Sex

And in another report, we detail the allegations made by Jane Doe 2, who claims Halcovage’s unwanted advances ultimately led to the downfall of her marriage.

• READ: Jane Doe 2: Halcovage Ruined My Marriage, Made Child Custody Threats

But the exhaustive 75-page lawsuit also details numerous other incidents of sexual harassment and other inappropriate workplace behavior involving Halcovage, other county officials, and Doe, Doe 2, Doe 3, and Doe 4.

Schuylkill County Lawsuit Details Numerous Incidents of Sexual Harassment, Inappropriate Workplace Behavior, Political Bullying

Here are more of the the allegations and claims made by the 4 Schuylkill County employees against Halcovage and other county officials:

Forcing Employees to Switch to the GOP; Political Bullying

Doe 3 and Doe 4 claim they were each told by Halcovage upon their hiring – sometime close to November 2011 – that “if they wanted a raise or to receive promotions … they would have to change their political party to Republican,” the lawsuit alleges.

Both women say they did change their political party affiliation because they feared losing their jobs if they didn’t comply.

After they got hired, both Doe 3 and Doe 4 say Halcovage had them circulate petitions on his behalf for political offices he was seeking. Halcovage allegedly also asked Doe 3 to work at a polling place, handing out flyers to voters as they went into the polls on Election Day.

Sexual Gossip

Doe 3 and Doe 4 also say, following his re-election in 2012, Halcovage started frequenting their office in Schuylkill County Courthouse. While there, Halcovage allegedly repeatedly made “unwelcome and unwanted sexual comments and/or demeaning and discriminatory sexist comments,” the lawsuit claims.

On one occasion, Halcovage was alone in the office with Doe 3. The Commissioner said to Doe 3 that Jim McNulty thinks “you’re really good looking.”

Doe 3 told Roth about this comment and Roth allegedly assured her that he and Bender would have to do something about the inappropriate comment but the lawsuit alleges those two never took any action on it.

In 2012 or 2013, the lawsuit alleges, Doe learned that another Courthouse employee, Tom Gallagher, had been accused of sexual harassment. Doe 3 learned of this and gossiped to Halcovage, “I bet Tom did sexually harass Pam. He once said to me, while I was bending down, ‘Hey little girl, while you are down on your knees, I have a job for you’.”

Halcovage apparently stored that story in his memory bank and later repeated the same “while you are down on your knees” line Doe 3 had told him back to Doe 3 despite her telling the Commissioner she thought it was sexual harassment.

The Freeze Pops

Doe 4 says in the lawsuit that she prevents dehydration following her daily running exercise by eating a freeze pop. On one occasion, Halcovage saw Doe 4 eating a freeze pop following one of her runs.

Halcovage allegedly said to Doe 4 – which Doe 3 overheard – “Wow, I like the way your mouth is around that.”

This made Doe 4 uncomfortable and rather than discontinue her post-workout routine, she apparently bought a bowl to rest the freeze pop on her desk in case Halcovage entered their office at the Courthouse so she couldn’t be seen eating it.

Like, for instance, during another alleged incident, Halcovage said “That’s a big one” when he saw Doe 4 eating a freeze pop.

Doe 4 reported that comment to Doe 3, her supervisor, who relayed the accusation to Roth. The lawsuit claims Roth did nothing when he learned of the apparent infraction.

The freeze pops story didn’t end there, either.

Halcovage apparently went a step further and purchased a box of freeze pops for Doe 3 and Doe 4’s office. As he delivered them, the Commissioner allegedly said, “These are the BIG ONES.” After buying the office those freeze pops, Halcovage allegedly routinely brought “families with children” into that office to get the kids freeze pops as a treat.

The Commissioner would regularly ask Doe 4 to cut open the freeze pops for the kids who visited the office. When she did, Halcovage would tell visitors, “See how I have her trained.”

“Parking” (The Figurative Kind)

The lawsuit makes several allegations in regard to parking, some literal and another figurative.

The figurative kind allegedly started one day when Doe 4 came back to the Courthouse after having lunch with her husband, the lawsuit spells out. When she got back to work, Halcovage allegedly asked her “Where did you go after lunch? Were you and (Doe 4’s husband) parking?”

By that, he meant were they having some type of sexual relations in their vehicle on her lunch break.

When Doe 4 slapped back with a “No” Halcovage then asked her “What’s all over your lips?” Doe 4 believes Halcovage implied that she had given her husband oral sex on her lunch break. She says that “numerous” other people heard the Commissioner make this comment and some even laughed.

Halcovage’s comments on “parking” continued and “became very regular,” the lawsuit claims.

Once again, Doe 4 says she relayed this complaint to Roth but nothing came of it in the way of action against Halcovage.

Promoting a Rival’s Campaign

In another incident – this of a non-sexual nature – Halcovage allegedly printed a photo from Doe’s Facebook page in which she and Doe 2 are holding a sign promoting Brian Rich for the 2012 Pennsylvania Senate campaign.

Halcovage, the lawsuit reads, pulled Doe into his office and told her to shut the door. He showed her the photo and said that some County employees and officials were not happy about the photo and told her to remove it.

Afterward, Halcovage discussed Doe’s future as a county employee and assured her that if she “stuck with” him, he “had her back.”

In late 2014 or early 2015, Halcovage allegedly asked Doe to work a Republican Party fundraiser, stationing her at the coatroom. Doe didn’t refuse the job, and says in the lawsuit that she “felt unable to decline” the job. That night, Halcovage allegedly bought Doe a few alcoholic drinks even though he was allegedly aware of her struggles with alcohol.

At the end of the night, Halcovage offered to walk Doe to her car and along the way, allegedly kissed her.

“Carpet Muncher” Comment

The lawsuit alleges Roth and Bender were both within earshot of comments made about another county employee and Doe’s supervisor, Ginny Murray. Halcovage is quoted as saying:

“I’m going to make Ginny cry.”

“Ginny is a carpet muncher.”

“Ginny is a lesbian.”

The suit alleges that Roth and Bender did nothing when they heard Halcovage make these comments and they each failed to follow up with Murray to see if she believed the comments were inappropriate.

Seeing this, the Does in the lawsuit said they believed their complaints against Halcovage’s behavior would fall on deaf ears.

The “69”

Recently, Schuylkill County updated its sexual harassment policy as a result of the mounting allegations against Halcovage and the perceived inaction on the part of other County employees and officials.

All County employees were required to take part in a training session in regard to that new policy. The lawsuit alleges Halcovage never finished that training. Roth and Bender are accused in the lawsuit of knowing that Halcovage didn’t complete the training but were aware that he’d signed a paper indicating he had.

At the end of the training was a quiz. Following the quiz, Halcovage allegedly went up to Doe 4 and said to her, “I see you flunked. I see you got number 69 wrong.”

The only thing is, there was no #69 on the quiz and this was an obvious reference to the sexual position of the same name.

The Photo Ops

The lawsuit also alleges that each of the Jane Does watched Halcovage make “obscene jokes” toward their female co-workers. The Commissioner would, for example, ask females to sit on bouncing ball chairs and would often want to pose for photos with him, his arm often around them.

Halcovage would allegedly share these photos with male co-workers in the Courthouse, including Roth and Bender, the suit claims.

The Trump Rally

At a 2016 rally for soon-to-be President Donald Trump, Halcovage and Doe 2 attended together. The Commissioner allegedly used his pull to get into the rally by circumventing the security line. As they did this, Halcovage allegedly said to Doe 2, “and you didn’t even have to hike up your skirt.”

Hillary Clinton’s P***y

As disturbing as all these accusations sound, one of the more bizarre claims comes from Doe 3 and Doe 4. In 2018, the lawsuit details, Halcovage approached Doe 3 and Doe 4 and asked, “Do you know what Hillary Clinton’s pussy smells like?”

Both Doe 3 and Doe 4 say they didn’t entertain Halcovage’s question with a response. Despite that, he proceeded to open his mouth and breathe heavily on them both, indicating that he’d just performed oral sex on Hillary Clinton.

“Holy Jeans”

In April 2019, Halcovage allegedly saw Doe 2 earing a pair of jeans with holes in the Courthouse. He approached Doe 2 and said to her, “Holy jeans. Let me put my finger in one of your holes.”

Doe 2 did not take kindly to this comment and whipped the Commissioner the finger. She was reprimanded for this action by Bender the next day.

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