NEW ORLEANS — It’s a nine-page lawsuit against Jesuit High School in New Orleans alleging sexual harassment by one of the school’s former top administrators.
“The school protected him. It’s unbelievable how much the school protected him,” said Delmy Banegas who filed the lawsuit.
Banegas began teaching Spanish at the all-boys school in the fall of 2019. She says sexual harassment from Larry Abshire started immediately.
“I had a meeting with him in his office and then a few days after he brought me lunch which is very unusual for an administrator to do,” said Banegas.
Banegas says Abshire then began calling her “friend.”
“He was trying to make it seem like we somehow had a relationship,” said Banegas.
The federal lawsuit claims Abshire made repeated inappropriate and sexual comments to Banegas. According to the lawsuit, Abshire made comments about her being naked, looking sexy and liking pepperoni and Italian sausage, which the lawsuit indicates was a reference to Abshire’s penis.
The lawsuit also claims Abshire groped Banegas, called her repeatedly and used a computer to track her movements inside the building. All of it, according to the lawsuit, created a sexually hostile work environment with Banegas feeling stalked and terrorized.
“I felt like I couldn’t go to work without having an anxiety attack. It was affecting me emotionally,” said Banegas.
Banegas says she brought the issue to the assistant principal in March, but never heard anything until she saw a campus-wide email in May announcing Abshire’s retirement. By then Banegas already decided not to renew her teaching contract.
“I knew that the culture at the school was to protect those that were top administrators,” said Banegas.
“So, as a first-year teacher there, I wasn’t going to make it.”
According to the lawsuit, Jesuit High School had no formal policy for reporting sexual harassment.
“When I asked, ‘Ok, give me the paperwork so I can fill out a complaint,’ there was no paperwork,” said Banegas.
The school maintains there is a policy, but because it’s now part of litigation was unable to provide Eyewitness News with a copy. The school did release this statement:
“Since the moment that school leadership was made aware of these allegations, Jesuit High School is confident that all appropriate procedures were followed and that the school fully adhered to all relevant policies. As a Catholic school, Jesuit maintains professional lifestyle standards and policies that are stricter than those required by law. These policies include both preventative and remedial measures that ensured a prompt investigation of Ms. Banegas’s complaints. At no point did the school fall short of internal or external expectations. As such, Jesuit’s handling of the matter was both immediate and thorough, and Jesuit has remained respectful of Ms. Banegas’s request for privacy.”
“You can’t do your job when you’re concerned about someone harassing you in the workplace,” said attorney Jay Ellwanger, who representants Banegas.
Ellwanger says it appears the school allowed Abshire to quietly retire and not be held accountable.
“What we can’t have is employers continuing to sweep these kinds of problems under the rug,” said Ellwanger.
Before filing a lawsuit, Banegas filed an EEOC complaint which the school says was dismissed after an “investigation failed to establish any violations of the law by Jesuit.”
“Dismissed sounds like there was sort of an adjudication of what happened and there wasn’t,” said Ellwanger.
Ellwanger says that EEOC decision doesn’t mean harassment didn’t happen.
“Between 98 and 99 percent of charges that get filed with the EEOC is they give the individual the right to sue,” said Ellwanger.
By bringing the lawsuit, Banegas wants change.
“They have to implement policies and strengthen those policies. There has to be training. Males and females need to respect each other in the workplace,” said Banegas.
The lawsuit only names Jesuit High School as a defendant. The school has about a month to respond. Our efforts to reach Abshire for comment Wednesday were unsuccessful.
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