New allegations emerge in connection with Boyce’s suspension

Boyce

Although Timothy Boyce is currently suspended from his position as director of emergency medical services in Delaware County, he and the county are still facing at least two sexual discrimination lawsuits Daily times has learned, including one alleging sexual assault.

One of the lawsuits, filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission, alleges that Boyce grabbed the complainant’s buttocks and tried to kiss her, then apologized in a text message.

The two women, whose names are not being released, are both represented by Bryn Mawr’s attorney Mark Schwartz, who has represented other clients against the county in the past.

Boyce could not be reached for comment Monday and Delaware County Attorney Jonathan Lichtenstein said he could not comment on pending legal matters.

“Indescribably disrespectful”

The personal injury lawsuit filed April 2 by a 38-year-old complainant alleges that Boyce routinely made comments that made her uncomfortable, including that she was “very fascinating” and had “a nice…”

This allegedly culminated in an assault on January 30, when Boyce called the woman into his office around 3:30 p.m. and physically pulled her towards him to hug her, grabbing her face and cheeks. He tried to kiss her, but she turned away and he kissed the side of her head, the complaint says.

Further statement from the complaint:

As the woman backed away, Boyce allegedly told her, “You have a really nice…” “Let me feel it,” then grabbed her buttocks before walking out the side door of his office.

The complainant said she went to her car and started crying. She showered at home “to clean myself” and then spent the evening crying and hysterical, suffering panic attacks that affected her breathing.

The next day, she called in sick and told Boyce that she would not return to work on February 2, leaving a $56,000-a-year job with significant benefits.

On February 6, the complainant texted Boyce to express her outrage and disgust.

“What you did at work on Tuesday was absolutely disgusting and disrespectful beyond words,” she told him, according to the complaint. “You totally took advantage of me and made me feel like a piece of meat. …(You) felt like you had all the “power” to get into my personal space and that everything would be okay because it was what YOU wanted. I never thought about whether I would be okay with it or not.”

The complainant said she asked Boyce how Boyce would feel if someone had done something like that to one of his daughters and she hoped he would think twice before attempting the same alleged act on someone else.

Boyce reportedly responded, “That was never my intention and I apologize. “I have respect for you. It was never my intention to hit on you.”

When the complainant texted back that he was “absolutely” lashing out at her and that what he was doing showed no respect, Boyce allegedly replied, “I’m sorry and I’m not making excuses.”

Schwartz said he submitted a discovery letter to Lichtenstein on March 14 and sent a follow-up letter on March 28 requesting a settlement resolution and Boyce’s immediate termination.

Schwartz said he received no response.

Preference patterns

The other lawsuit, filed in January by an elderly woman, alleges that her hours were cut under Boyce, that she was not given a raise despite numerous requests and false assurances, and that she was forced to share a cubicle to share with another woman.

According to the complaint, Boyce had now “demonstrated a well-known preference for attractive young women” in hiring and promotion within the office and otherwise created a sexist and hostile workplace for older women.

The complainant added that she was retaliated against for voicing complaints or otherwise advocating for herself.

Suspended by the district

Boyce, who oversees 125 employees and coordinates the county’s 65 fire companies and departments, 42 police departments and 31 emergency medical technicians, was placed on administrative leave on April 26.

Sources said the issues involved the use of payroll and other matters.

Sources have confirmed that an investigation into these matters has since been moved to the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office to ensure an appearance of fairness.

The Delaware County District Attorney’s Office has neither confirmed nor denied the investigation.

Following Boyce’s suspension, the county council issued a statement saying it was cooperating fully with the investigation and would take appropriate action if necessary once the investigation was completed.

“The county council is committed to protecting our workforce and part of that commitment is to ensure a fair and thorough investigation of any complaints or allegations,” the statement said. “While the investigation is ongoing, this employee remains on administrative leave, as is standard practice in the district.”

“This is garbage,” Schwartz said. “They knew or should have known what was going on with this guy in January and they did nothing.”

Schwartz said he heard from other EMS employees that Boyce had spread the elderly woman’s complaint around the office and made fun of it. He also expects further submissions.

“I believe that Boyce can and should be prosecuted solely based on an employee’s text message and his response to it,” Schwartz said. “I think that’s all you need.”

When reached for comment Monday, the county’s public relations director, Adrienne Marofsky, reiterated Lichtenstein’s statement that the county does not comment on pending EEOC matters and said Boyce remains suspended pending an investigation.

Lichtenstein said there is a process for such filings that must follow.

“To the extent there is an EEOC matter, we will handle it appropriately,” he said.

Schwartz was skeptical.

“Given his complete lack of response to my repeated attempts to communicate with him, I have little expectation of this,” Schwartz said. “How long exactly have county officials known about Tim Boyce? We’ll find out.”

Editor’s note: After the original text of this story was online for approximately 11 hours, County Council Chairwoman Dr. Monica Taylor, of the Daily Times additional comments:

“We (district council) were made aware on April 25 of an investigation into allegations made against Principal Boyce by a district employee. As soon as the district became aware of this, we cooperated fully with the investigation and Tim Boyce was immediately involved. “He was on leave that evening, so he was placed on leave within a few hours.”

Taylor said she couldn’t discuss what the allegations were or whether they were sexual in nature, but hoped the investigation would be completed soon and she could then release more information.

Taylor said she also was unable to verify whether the county received emails from Schwartz before April 25, but the county’s information technology department combed through the emails to find those communications .

“If the attorney was able to actually send evidence of this correspondence that would be great, but we have not been able to clarify that this was actually sent and we have received no information at all about the second EEOC complaint that… filed.” became “the article.”

Schwartz said the EEOC will forward the complaints to the county and Lichtenstein is the contact for those emails, but he also personally sent the county copies of the complaints with proposed settlement demands in February and March, which should also be on the record.

Schwartz again pointed out that he had heard from EMS officials that Boyce ignored one of the complaints and made fun of it.

“Who did he get it from?” asked Schwartz. “He got it from someone. And that was long before the 26th.”

He added that no proactive steps appeared to have been taken to find out what happened to the one woman after she left her job due to the alleged assault.

“What could have happened?” said the lawyer. “Why would anyone give up a well-paying job? She was only there for a short time. Does anyone have the intellectual ability to be proactive and figure out what happens if someone disappears from their job? Apparently not.”

Taylor said complaints can be directed to human resources or through an anonymous complaint form, but the county has not received complaints through either of those means.

“When we first heard about this on the afternoon of April 25, we learned of an external investigation that was underway,” she said. “Mr. Boyce was subsequently placed on leave immediately.”

Taylor couldn’t say which outside entity was involved, but said the county is also conducting its own internal investigation and is having ongoing discussions with emergency services officials. She reiterated that the county is committed to protecting workers and trying to ensure that any complaints or allegations from anyone are investigated fairly and thoroughly.

“The safety of our district employees is very important to us and we ensure that there is no harassment, discrimination or retaliation – none of this will be tolerated and we want to ensure that all of our employees feel safe and secure.” Feeling like they have a safe work environment,” Taylor said.