"Jersey Shore" star Angelina Pivarnick is suing over claims that a former boss at the FDNY, where she worked as an EMT, sexually harassed her.
Multiple outlets including TMZ and Page Six report that in the newly filed lawsuit, the MTV star alleges she was not only faced with a sexually hostile work environment in which she was harassed by two different male supervisors — one of whom, she claims, groped her — but that she was also punished when she complained about the alleged behavior.
The federal lawsuit, which was filed in Brooklyn on Sept. 16, names Lt. Jonathan Schechter and the City of New York as defendants. It includes text messages that Angelina says she received from Schechter while she was working for Emergency Medical Services as an EMT at Staten Island's Rossville Station in 2017 and 2018. "Schechter incessantly subjected Pivarnick to unwelcome sexual advances, as well as comments about her body and physical appearance," the lawsuit states, according to Page Six.
Some of the text messages she claims she received including the following: "Your a– is amazing and I wish I wasn't working or in uniform because I definitely would've kissed those amazing lips."
Later, Angelina's lawsuit alleges, the lieutenant "grabbed and squeezed her buttock" in the station's parking lot where he also "made contact with her vaginal area." She insists she made it clear he was not to touch her but said later that day, he texted her again, according to the lawsuit as reported by Page Six: "That a–! If you only knew the thoughts I had in my mind."
The supervisor also allegedly said he'd massage or have sex with her while she was recovering from a back injury and in another alleged text told her, "Just so you know … I have not f—ed anyone from EMS yet … let alone the station."
Angelina claims that she was given cleanup duty or other undesirable assignments when she was not friendly to him, Page Six reports.
The lawsuit also alleges that another supervisor, Lt. David Rudnitzky, who is not being sued, "apparently believed that he could speak to Pivarnick at work in sexually graphic and vulgar terms" because of her involvement with "Jersey Shore." According to Angelina, he asked her, "How many guys on 'Jersey Shore' have you f—ed?" On other occasions, this lieutenant inquired about if she'd had sex with her "man" (Angelina is engaged to Chris Larangeira) and told her at work, "Make sure no f—ing today."
The reality TV star — who is seeking monetary damages for mental anguish and humiliation — says she made formal complaints and heard from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in March 2019 that her complaints had "credible and corroborating evidence."
Angelina told E! News in a statement, "I have filed a complaint in federal court because I suffered severe sexual harassment while working for EMS and was retaliated against by my management when I complained internally. It should go without saying that what I experienced has nothing to do with television or entertainment. Like all women, I am entitled to be treated with dignity and respect at work, and I should not have to accept unwanted sexual advances, crude comments about my body, or physical assault. Going forward, at the instruction of my lawyers, I will not be commenting about this case further except as required in court."
A rep for the City of New York Law Department told TMZ that authorities will "respond to these allegations in court."