A federal court has granted a New Orleans credit union’s motion for a summary judgment in a lawsuit brought by a former credit union executive who alleged he was a victim of sexual harassment by higher-ups.
The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana granted the OnPath Federal Credit Union the motion, which effectively ends the possibility of a jury trial in the case. A former OnPath executive, Matt Hanely, sued OnPath last year, alleging that two of its former chief executive officers had created a hostile work environment and engaged in sexual harassment and discrimination.
In work-related settings, former CEO Minghon Tourne repeatedly described sexual acts she wanted to perform on Hanely and suggested the two should run away together, even though she knew Hanely was married, according to the original complaint.
U.S. District Court Judge Ivan Lemelle
| xula.edu
And former CEO Sonya Jarvis said at one point that she would promote him in return for sexual relations, Hanely alleged.
“OnPath is pleased with the court’s ruling as it has always been committed to equal employment opportunity and will continue to be committed to that goal,” the credit union’s attorney, Susan Fahey Desmond, said in an email to the Louisiana Record.
In the wake of the credit union filing a motion for summary judgment in August, Hanely’s attorneys failed to submit a response to the motion. Haney’s allegations of defamation and retaliation should be dismissed because he failed to meet his burden of proof, the motion stated.
“No party has filed a motion to continue the hearing or filed a motion for extension of time within which to oppose the motion,” the opinion by Judge Ivan Lemelle states. “Accordingly, this motion is deemed to be unopposed, and because it appears to the court that the motion has merit, it is ordered that the motion for summary judgment is granted.”
The motion also alleged that Hanely’s claims for punitive damages lack merit because he had not shown that OnPath had acted against him with malice or reckless indifference.
The case has been described as unusual because U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) data on sexual harassment allegations indicate that women are overwhelmingly the victims of such acts. In charges filed with the EEOC, only 16.8% of the cases involved sexual harassment allegations made by males in fiscal year 2020, the agency reported.