O’Reilly
PHILADELPHIA - A cancer researcher will get to pursue her sexual harassment and retaliation lawsuit against the director of the Fox Chase Cancer Center at Temple University, following a federal judge's ruling.
Judge Karen Marston on May 29 allowed claims from Dr. Alana O'Reilly to proceed, while dismissing a sex harassment allegation based on a "hostile environment" theory. Next is a June 16 hearing on O'Reilly's request to compel discovery or keep the defendants from asserting a "good faith" defense to punitive damages.
O'Reilly's lawyer, Julie Uebler of Uebler Law, says the defendants are shielding discovery of their response to O'Reilly's complaint filed in 2023 with the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations.
O'Reilly started at Fox Chase in 2007 and in 2014 said she began suffering sexual harassment from her then-supervisor, Dr. Jonathan Chernoff. It came in the form of "numerous personal messages about his feelings for her and other women," O'Reilly says.
He allegedly sent her a poem originally intended for a former mistress, then advanced to "more demanding" messages about how "special" she is. He also told her to meet him in person but she refused, prompting him to visit her laboratory, the lawsuit says.
She reported the conduct to another supervisor, and the result was Chernoff being told she would only communicate with him about work-related issues, the suit says. The personal messages persisted, she claims.
In late 2014, after a message on Christmas morning, she reported Chernoff to Temple's Title IX officer. Rather than Chernoff being fired, as initially promised by the university, O'Reilly was reassigned so she would no longer report to Chernoff.
Six years went by with no further harassment, as Dr. Jeffrey Peterson protected O'Reilly from Chernoff, the suit claims. In 2021, Chernoff was named director of Fox Chase.
In 2023, Peterson passed away. O'Reilly paid tribute during her annual research presentation at a seminar, at which Chernoff was present. It is alleged Chernoff took pictures of O'Reilly during her speech then emailed her five days later, asking for her help on a grant application.
Other colleagues said Chernoff was scrolling through photos he took of O'Reilly while she spoke and was zooming in on them.
Meanwhile, O'Reilly had grant issues of her own. She needed to secure funding to support 50% of her salary, benefits and lab expenses and sought a letter of support for money from the National Institutes of Health.
Instead, Fox Chase refused and said there were other initiatives "that were of a higher priority." It was confirmed that Chernoff made or participated in that decision, leading to O'Reilly's retaliation claim.
She filed her PCHR complaint in August 2023, then sued.
Judge Marston found Chernoff's attendance at the 2023 research presentation noteworthy, as it was the first time he had done so since being ordered not to communicate with her in 2015 and it was her first presentation since Peterson, her alleged protector, had died.
"Dr. Chernoff's actions in 2023 occurred after he had previously subjected Dr. O'Reilly to a series of knowingly unwelcome personal messages containing sexual innuendos about 'his feelings for her and other women' in 2014," Marston wrote.
"Defendants allegedly deemed Dr. Chernoff's conduct serious enough in 2014 to warrant not only Dr. O'Reilly's reassignment to a new supervisor but also a prohibition on any further contact between Drs. Chernoff and O'Reilly.
"With this context in mind, the Court can reasonably infer that Dr. Chernoff's alleged conduct toward Dr. O'Reilly in 2023 was sexually motivated and thus Dr. O'Reilly's sex was a substantial factor that influenced Dr. Chernoff's conduct."
Marston found O’Reilly has adequately alleged a “quid pro quo” sexual harassment claim, which concerns employees who face adverse consequences for refusing sexual advances.
