{"id":55569,"date":"2025-11-29T14:23:07","date_gmt":"2025-11-29T14:23:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/55569\/"},"modified":"2025-11-29T14:23:07","modified_gmt":"2025-11-29T14:23:07","slug":"female-drug-rehab-boss-bullied-underling-into-early-morning-sex-romps-in-office-lawsuit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/55569\/","title":{"rendered":"Female drug rehab boss bullied underling into early-morning sex romps in office: lawsuit"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Long Island man claims he was forced to bed his female boss for years at the Queens drug rehab where they worked \u2014 and she even tried to justify the morning sex romps by invoking former President Obama<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cBarack met Michelle at work. She was his boss. Be presidential \u2026 I think the next text [from you]
should be saying Thank you,\u201d Saint Joseph\u2019s Medical Center program director Michele Poole allegedly told underling Kian Cooper, according to his $100 million sex discrimination<\/a> lawsuit. \u201cI\u2019m sooo undervalued. You know even a Mercedes needs a tune up sometimes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Everyone at the job knew what was going on behind the closed doors of Poole\u2019s office, because of \u201cthe loud noises relative to sexual activities,\u201d he alleged in the Brooklyn Supreme Court complaint filed against her and the company.<\/p>\n

Kian Cooper, a single father of two children, claims he endured years of forced sex with his boss so he could keep his job. J.C. Rice<\/p>\n

And every time he tried to put a stop to the twisted rendezvous, she threatened to fire him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI asked her to stop, face to face, numerous times, more than 100 times and in text messages about 12 to 14 times,\u201d he contended.<\/p>\n

\u201cFind another job,\u201d Poole allegedly told Cooper.<\/p>\n

Poole adamantly denied the allegations to The Post \u2014 insisting their six-month affair was mutual; that Cooper showered her with gifts and romantic cards, and that she had no authority to hire or fire him.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s just making stuff up,\u201d she insisted. \u201cI have proof of the intimate things he sent me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI have credible evidence and I will be filing a lawsuit against anyone who slanders me,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

Cooper also claimed Poole had an affair with a second employee \u2014 but the man denied the allegation to The Post.<\/p>\n

Michele Poole allegedly demanded regular sex from Cooper, he claimed in a lawsuit. Obtained by the NY Post<\/p>\n

The alleged sexual encounters took place two to three times a week in her fourth-floor office, often near the start of his 6 a.m. shift, when Poole would summon him, Cooper alleged in court papers.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter a while I would do things to avoid her,\u201d he alleged, adding, \u201cWalking from the third to the fourth floor, I would think, \u2018Damn it, how am I going to get out of this office without feeling gross?\u2019 <\/p>\n

\u201cI basically was just trying to take the abuse and save my job,\u201d said Cooper, 50, who is still employed as a clinical supervisor with Saint Joseph\u2019s. \u00a0<\/p>\n

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Poole is no longer employed at Saint Joseph\u2019s, though it\u2019s unclear if she was terminated or allowed to leave on her own, Cooper\u2019s lawyers said.<\/p>\n

Desperate to keep the job due to a past drug conviction, Cooper \u2014 who has since earned two Master\u2019s degrees in social work and urban affairs \u2014 allegedly in his lawsuit that Poole was already having an affair with another employee at Saint Joseph\u2019s opioid treatment center when he began in 2019.<\/p>\n

In 2022, the flirty Poole allegedly sent him an anonymous fruit basket before demanding a sexual relationship \u2014 which kicked off with a date at the Marriott Marquis in Midtown, he claimed.<\/p>\n

The sexual encounters allegedly happened in supervisor Michele Poole\u2019s office, according to the lawsuit. J.C. Rice<\/p>\n

Cooper, who said he\u2019s since been diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder, took two medical leaves, including one month-long absence and another two months, due to stress and anxiety, he said in the lawsuit.<\/p>\n

After he finally complained in February 2024, Poole allegedly told Cooper, \u201cThe sh-t you pulled was extremely foul. You hung me out to dry.\u201d<\/p>\n

Men are just as much victims of sexual harassment as women, said Cooper\u2019s lawyers, JoAnn Squillace and Stephen Drummond.<\/p>\n

Poole sent fruit baskets to all the employees for their birthdays, she told The Post, and denied any sex took place in the office.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had a full staff by 6 a.m.,\u201d she said, noting her secretary was present during their meetings. \u201cI\u2019ve never done anything to harm him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Saint Joseph\u2019s did not return a request for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Long Island man claims he was forced to bed his female boss for years at the Queens…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":55570,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[16471,2850,57,9,11,10,30276,122,30277,3644,24162,58],"class_list":{"0":"post-55569","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-discrimination","9":"tag-lawsuits","10":"tag-metro","11":"tag-new-york","12":"tag-new-york-headlines","13":"tag-new-york-news","14":"tag-opioids","15":"tag-queens","16":"tag-sexual-discrimination","17":"tag-sexual-harassment","18":"tag-the-workplace","19":"tag-us-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55569","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55569"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55569\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55570"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55569"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55569"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55569"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}