The administrator of a New York nursing home has been hit with a lawsuit claiming he sexually harassed several members of the facility’s staff, including two former directors of nursing.
The suit was filed Friday against Haven Manor Health Care Center in Queens, NY, and administrator Aron Cytryn by Wendy Wynter, a former DON there. Wynter claims Cytryn made “pervasive and unwanted sexual advances,” comments and physical contact soon after she was hired in 2010.
The director of nursing at the time Wynter was hired allegedly told her not to “scream sexual harassment because … [Cytryn] does it all the time and had even done it to her,” the lawsuit reads.
In one incident, shortly after Wynter asked for a raise, Cytryn exposed himself to her and said “she would have to do him a favor if she wanted him to do her a favor,” according to court documents.
A spokesman for Haven Manor told McKnight’s on Monday that the facility did not have a comment on the lawsuit.
Wynter’s complaint also claims Cytryn would grope her “in places where he knew the security cameras would not likely pick up his inappropriate conduct,” and called her a “defiant bitch” when she refused his advances.
Wynter’s suit also details claims of sexual harassment from other Haven Manor staff, including the facility’s recreation director, recreation aide and two registered nurses.
Wynter told the facility’s administrative assistant about the incidents and was soon after warned by Cytryn and the facility’s assistant administrator that she was in jeopardy of losing her job, according to legal filings.
Wynter left Haven Manor in 2014 and filed a discrimination complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in 2015. The EEOC gave Wynter a “right to sue notice” in April.
