Ex-athletic director claims Jersey Shore Area School District was a hostile workplace due to her gender

A former athletic director at the Jersey Shore Area School District has filed a federal lawsuit saying she experienced a hostile work environment and was let go because she is a woman.

Serena Pfaff-Henry is seeking a jury trial in U.S. Middle District Court after she received notices of dismissal for her two cases from the Employment Opportunity Commission and Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission.

Pfaff-Henry was dismissed by the district administration in a vote by the school board from her job as athletic director after a public hearing.

Superintendent Dr. Brian Ulmer "fostered a discriminatory and demeaning work environment for her and women working in the district," according to the suit.

Pfaff-Henry alleges disparate treatment for sex/gender in violation of her federal civil rights and the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act; retaliation in violation of federal and state acts and a hostile work environment and harassment.

Pfaff-Henry was hired in April, 2019, as athletic director. Ulmer was hired a year later as superintendent.

From the start, she asserted, Ulmer worked to "undermine her position and replace her with a male and has given her lower pay increases than similar male employees."

The district viewed her work performance in a different light.

Her dismissal from the athletic director job stemmed from four incidents which the district said highlighted her "incompetence" based on school code. The school board had the "right to remove any of its officers, employees or appointees for incompetency, intemperance, neglect of duty, violation of any of the school laws of this Commonwealth or other improper conduct."

In her suit, Pfaff-Henry is seeking damages due to lost wages and benefits and pain and suffering.

She has requested a jury trial with Chief U.S. Middle District Judge Matthew W. Brann.