Former HR chief's civil trial against county gets underway

Jul. 7—SCRANTON — Attorneys for the former Luzerne County Human Resources director Tuesday said their client's First Amendment rights were violated when a county union official secretly taped their conversation during a meeting.

The attorney representing Luzerne County and former county Manager Robert Lawton and current county administrative services division head David Parsnik said the recording doesn't exist because nobody recorded the meeting.

That's the crux of the argument in the civil trial that began Tuesday in Scranton federal court before U.S. District Judge Robert D. Mariani of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania.

After a morning-long process of selecting the eight-member jury — seven men and one woman — the trial began with opening statements from Attorney Dylan T. Hastings for Donna Davis Javitz, plaintiff, and Attorney Mark W. Bufalino, representing the defendants. Attorney Mark B. Frost is co-counsel for the plaintiff.

Once the jury was seated, Hastings called just one witness — the plaintiff Davis Javitz.

Testimony wrapped up at 5:20 p.m. and will resume Tuesday morning at 9:30 a.m. with Bufalino cross-examining Davis Javitz.

Davis Javitz claims she was terminated in 2015 but not told why. She said Parsnik and then-county solicitor David Pedri came to her office and Parsnik told her she could resign, or that she was "out of here right now."

Davis Javitz said she asked why she was being terminated, but was not given an answer.

Davis Javitz was hired for the position in August 2014 at a salary of $55,000. She was terminated in October 2015.

She sued the county in December of that year, alleging her termination was in retaliation for her attempts to request a criminal investigation by District Attorney Stefanie Salavantis' office into union officials whom Davis Javitz claimed illegally recorded her conversations.

During Hastings' opening statement and later in testimony from Davis Javitz, it was claimed that at investigatory meetings concerning county employees, Paula Schnelly, the local AFSCME union president and employee in the county district attorney's office, who is now retired, would always place her cell phone on the table and a notepad, but did not take many notes. Davis Javitz said she would receive verbatim accounts of the meeting and she claims they had to be taken from a recording to be that complete and detailed.

The defense disputes that claim, stating no recordings were ever made.

The plaintiff claims her constitutional rights were violated and that Schnelly committed a felony in illegally recording the meetings. Davis Javitz requested then-District Attorney Stefanie Salavantis conduct an investigation, but since Schnelly was an employee in the DA's office, it was referred to the Pennsylvania Attorney General to conduct a probe. Davis Javitz sad she never heard if the investigation was completed.

Hastings detailed Davis Javitz career, noting she held several high level positions. He said she had never been reprimanded or disciplined in any of her previous positions or from Luzerne County and her supervisor Parsnik.

Davis Javitz claims she was terminated as retaliation for requesting the investigation. She also claims from the time she requested the probe, she was treated differently by Parsnik and the county officials — her duties were relegated to minimal duties like filing and she said she was "bullied" on a daily basis and her office was moved from the county courthouse to Penn Place to a much smaller space.

In his opening, Bufalino told the jury that there never was a recording device in the room during the meetings with Schnelly.

"This is all in her (Davis Javitz) head," Bufalino said. "Paula Schnelly took notes. Did we fire her because she went to the DA? No."

Bufalino said the decision to move the HR department to Penn Place was discussed and decided before Davis Javitz was ever hired. He said Davis Javitz "was the bully," and she was "rude, disrespectful and created a toxic work environment."

Davis Javitz claims the county's actions violated Luzerne County's personnel code, Home Rule Charter and ethics code. She said her termination was "retaliation for her disclosure of criminal activity and repeated questioning of the status of the criminal investigation into the illegal recordings."

The county emphatically denies those claims.

Davis Javitz also has separate pending litigation against the Times Leader, which she has accused of libel in connection with coverage related to her. She also has a case pending against Paula Schnelly.

Expected to testify in the trial are Lawton, Parsnik, Schnelly and Salavantis. The trial is expected to last a week.

Davis Javitz said she instituted several policies and procedures to the HR department and revised others. She said her termination changed her life forever.

"I felt my career was over," she said. "I was repeatedly ridiculed in front of my staff and other employees. Mr. Parsnik treated me unprofessionally. All my life, I've worked hard. I knew (Parsnik) would do anything to destroy me because I reported a criminal violation — a felony.

"This has taken everything away from me because I spoke out. What was wrong with asking for an investigation,"

Davis Javitz said following her termination she applied for hundreds of jobs and had several interviews. She said she now works for Manpower as a field worker, making $17.87 per hour.

She said the HR directors that followed her were hired at $65,000 per year and $75,000 per year respectively.