Dr. Emmanuella Cherisme wants her day in court, claiming she was fired from her job at AIDS Care Group four years ago after refusing the sexual advances of a supervisor.
But AIDS Care Group maintains Cherisme was fired for valid reasons, thus her federal lawsuit should be dismissed as meritless.
Founded in 1998, AIDS Care Group provides a wide array of services to people with HIV/AIDS, with offices in Delaware and Berks counties.
Cherisme, 45, of Middletown, worked at AIDS Care Group from April 2013 to January 2014. She was hired to help the agency expand its women’s healthcare program.
According to Cherisme’s suit, her supervisor sexually harassed her for several months, until she electronically blocked his calls and texts, thus triggering her firing.
The alleged harassment at AIDS Care Group caused Cherisme to suffer from depression — a medical condition that lingers to this day, Cherisme said in a deposition.
Cherisme acknowledged she had sex with the man on four occasions — three times in her home and once during a trip to Florida, after the man showed up unexpectedly.
She contended that her final sexual encounter with the man was a form of rape. Since October 2013, Cherisme has participated in group therapy and has better boundary-setting skills, according to her deposition.
Cherisme turned down a good job offer in Ohio due to the opportunity to work at AIDS Care Group, only to be mistreated there, according to her deposition.
She allegedly was subjected to racist slurs at the agency, despite her philanthropic efforts to build a hospital in Haiti, which reportedly has a high incidence of AIDS cases.
Cherisme seeks more than $150,000 in damages andhas requested a jury trial to adjudicate her case.
But AIDS Care Group wants a federal judge to dismiss Cherisme’s case, arguing that her alleged harasser was merely a coworker — not a supervisor — and that their sexual encounters were consensual.
According to defense papers, Cherisme was so enamored by her co-worker, she even consulted him about the style of lingerie she should purchase.
“[T]he evidence is clear that the two of them were involved in a consensual relationship for months, during which time Dr. Cherisme never once complained to anyone at AIDS Care Group,” attorneys wrote in a defense filing.
AIDS Care Group also claims Cherisme was fired because her job performance was lacking and she had poor interpersonal skills with colleagues and superiors.
As of presstime, AIDS Care Group’s request for dismissal remained pending with U.S. District Judge Nitza I. Quinones Alejandro.
Neither side had a comment for this story.
Justin F. Robinette, a local civil-rights attorney, spoke in favor of Cherisme having her day in court.
“The court can’t say as a matter of law that there isn’t a power dynamic here,” Robinette told PGN. “Whether the relationship was consensual or not is a question for the jury to decide after hearing all of the facts and circumstances and weighing each side’s credibility.
“This includes the opportunity for [Cherisme] to take the stand in court and testify about whether she believed the person she was in a relationship with was her supervisor, and whether she felt the conduct from her supervisor was unwelcome, offensive and therefore harassing.”
Robinette also noted that plaintiffs don’t have to be “perfect” to get their day in court.
“The law protects the imperfect worker from being treated any differently than the other imperfect workers,” he said. “You don’t need to be a perfect angel to reach a jury and possibly recover damages.”