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HARASSMENT IN THE NEWS FEMALE HARDHAT FILES HARASS SUIT from The Daily News, September 17, 2002 By JOHN MARZULLI DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER The new Brooklyn federal courthouse may still be under construction, but it's already generating legal work - a hardhat has filed a $9.5 million lawsuit charging she was sexually harassed by lewd co-workers. Deidre Olivera contends working at the site was a nightmare of "offensive touching and assaults, lewd and humiliating remarks, sexual advances [and] displays of pornographic materials," according to a federal complaint. Olivera, a member of Local 18A of the Cement and Concrete Workers union, said the harassment began in the summer of 2000, when she was hired as a laborer by Laquila Construction Inc. at the work site on Tillary St. A supervisor only identified as Frankie repeatedly referred to her as "his [expletive]," Olivera alleges. A carpenter warned her not to walk too close to him, using a vulgar term to suggest "she was sexually exciting him," the complaint stated. Olivera, of Brooklyn, said she complained about the lecherous remarks to the union shop steward, who expressed shock she found the comments offensive. "He told her that he spoke to his wife and his daughters that way, too," the complaint stated. When Olivera reported a worker who grabbed his crotch in front of her, the foreman dismissed the incident as a "lovers' quarrel," the complaint stated. Another male co-worker frequently slapped her buttocks with his hand or his hardhat, pornographic photos and drawings were posted on the walls and an exit sign was changed to read "Sexit," Olivera charges. Sickened by porno One porno image was so vulgar, Olivera became ill and vomited, according to the complaint. She also alleges that she was sent on coffee runs for male co-workers - and was called "the coffee girl." Olivera claims that she was given less-desirable assignments and denied safety equipment as retaliation for complaining about the hostile work environment, and was finally fired. But Angeleo Sisca, vice president for operations of Laquila, denied the allegations in the lawsuit and said Olivera wasn't fired. He said she walked off the job in August 2001 after filing her first and only complaint, which focused on a pornographic picture posted at the work site. "We have a zero tolerance policy for sexual harassment, and we're amazed by the lawsuit," Sisca said. The new courthouse is set to open next summer.