Jersey Shore star Angelina Pivarnick has filed a federal lawsuit accusing a lieutenant within the New York City Fire Department of sexual assault and harassment. According to the suit, filed Monday in Brooklyn federal court, Lt. Jonathan Schechter “incessantly subjected Pivarnick to unwelcome sexual advances, as well as comments about her body and physical appearance” during her time as an EMT at the EMS’ Rossville Station on Staten Island in 2017 and 2018.
In a September 2017 text, the suit alleges that Schechter told Pivarnick that her “a— is amazing and I wish I wasn’t working or in uniform because I definitely would’ve kissed those amazing lips,” Page Six reports.
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In May of 2018, he allegedly “grabbed and squeezed her buttock” in a parking lot outside the station and “made contact with her vaginal area.”
Pivarnick “made it clear” that Schecter was not allowed to touch her, but he text her later that day saying, “That ass! If you only knew the thoughts I had in my mind.”
Pivarnick alleges in the suit that when she wasn’t friendly towards him and his advances, she faced punishment, including being put on cleanup duty and other assignments.
The suit also makes similar allegations against Lt. David Rudnitzky, who “apparently believed that he could speak to Pivarnick at work in sexually graphic and vulgar terms” due to her appearance on Jersey Shore in 2018.
In March of 2018, Rudnitzky allegedly asked Pivarnick “how many guys on Jersey Shore have you f—ed?” On another occasion, he asked Pivarnick if she “f—ed [her] man” and later cautioned her to “make sure no f—ing today.”
Pivarnick says that she filed complaints with the FDNY’s Equal Employment Opportunity Office and was told the allegations were “credible,” though it is not known what disciplinary action, if any, was taken against the lieutenants.
“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,” Pivarnick said in a statement to E! News. “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 spokesperson for the New York City Law Department said that the agency would be reviewing the case.