Commonwealth Court recently reversed an order ordering Electric City Aquarium & Reptile Den to pay a former employee $66,000 after she alleged she was laid off due to reports she made to the business’s Human Resource Department.
In August of 2024, Rachel Lanning took her case to the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission.
In October of 2024, Scranton’s Electric City Aquarium & Reptile Den was ordered to pay Rachel Lanning $66,268, finding that she was terminated in retaliation for reporting sexual harassment by a co-worker.
“Retaliation because of a discrimination complaint is not tolerated in Pennsylvania,” PHRC Executive Director Chad Dion Lassiter said following that decision,
But, the Electric City Aquarium appealed the decision to Commonwealth Court, which ruled in the business’s favor in an order dated Nov. 20.
The crux of the decision, the court said, was that Lanning had been terminated due to the aquarium’s financial issues and not in response to Lanning reporting sexual harassment. The business simply could not afford to retain Lanning as a second full time reptile curator because of diminishing revenue, the court said in its decision.
In the original hearing before the commission, Clifford Grosvenor, Lanning’s supervisor, testified that Lanning was good at finding a problem, but another male employee was good at fixing them.
Retaining that male employee rather than Lanning, had nothing to do with gender or reporting, but was based on ability, he said.
The court also stated Lanning had not presented sufficient evidence to prove retaliation.
Details of the case
Lanning worked for Scranton’s Electric City Aquarium & Reptile Den as a reptile curator from September 2018 through October 2019, handling day-to-day management of scheduling, staff shows and medical responsibilities.
On Oct. 4, 2019, Lanning went to Human Resources to report a fellow employee was harassing her. The other employee, she said, belittled the way she spoke, mocked her and asked her to dance. She reported when she asked him to stop harassing her, but he didn’t.
In a follow-up email, Lanning said the other employee bullied her about her Amish background and speech impediment.
On Oct. 11, 2019, Melissa Rosevear, Lanning’s supervisor, called Lanning and informed her that due to “business being considerably slow recently,” the decision was made to “issue a lay-off” to her.
On Nov. 7, 2019, Lanning filed a complaint with the commission, alleging unlawful sex discrimination and unlawful retaliation. She alleged her employer had a “male dominated culture” and referred to it as the “boys club.”
In its Sept. 2024 decision, reversed in the Commonwealth Court, the commission found that Lanning did not prove sexual discrimination or harassment, but was terminated unlawfully in retaliation for her reports to management.
Following the Nov. 20 reversal, Lanning has 30 days to appeal to the Supreme Court, according to a Commonwealth Court spokesperson.