Former Westmoreland County elections director claims mistreatment, civil rights violations – WPXI

GREENSBURG, Pennsylvania – The former director of the Westmoreland County Election Bureau filed a lawsuit in federal court Tuesday alleging she was ill-treated and her civil rights violated while at work.

“The whole treatment that I received from the commissioners there, extremely toxic work environment, it was abusive, traumatic,” said Joanne Sebastiani.

“This case amounts to a violation of the Civil Rights Act, a matter of political affiliation,” said her attorney Alexander Lindsay Jr.

Sebastiani had been in the service for less than a year before she was released. The lawsuit said that shortly after her takeover, she was contacted by one of the commissioner’s secretaries and said Sebastiani needed to change her political stance.

She said she was harassed after suffering a concussion from a work injury, which made her symptoms worse.

“All of this has made my health worse and I still have symptoms,” she said.

Channel 11 has asked Westmoreland County’s commissioners for comment, but they haven’t responded.

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