Ex-justice in Rochester forced aide into sex acts, lawsuit alleges

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The secretary to former state Supreme Court Justice Matthew Rosenbaum is suing Rosenbaum and numerous other officials and state agencies for discrimination and retaliation, claiming they did nothing about her complaints that Rosenbaum forced her to perform sex acts on him dozens of times.

The plaintiff, Rebecca Klymn, claims Rosenbaum forced her to perform oral sex on him in his chambers between March 2005 and June 2009, when she told him she would no longer comply with his demands.

Rosenbaum threatened to have her fired if she refused his demands, and told her she would lose custody of her son if she failed to comply, according to the suit filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Rochester.

Klymn sought help from several court officials and state agencies, but nobody helped her, according to the suit.

Rosenbaum told Klymn that “performing fellatio upon him was part of her job, that he was stressed, and she was required to assist him in relieving his stress,” according to the complaint.

Klymn, who is represented by Buffalo attorneys Lindy Korn and Anna Marie Richmond, also claims that she was raped by Rosenbaum in her home on Nov. 14, 2006.

In June 2019, Rosenbaum “urged plaintiff to take a leave of absence ‘to get her head on straight,’ ” according to the suit. He stopped speaking to Klymn completely in July 2019, the suit claims.

In September 2019, Rosenbaum refused to approve a leave of absence for Klymn. In October 2019 she requested a leave under the Family & Medical Leave Act (FMLA) from human resources, based on a note from her doctor excusing her from work due to physical symptoms arising from stress due to a hostile work environment.

On Nov. 8, 2019, after getting no help from others, an official from the state court system’s Work-Safe office asked Klymn to send him a written description of her experiences working for Rosenbaum.

She sent the information and he forwarded the complaint to the Office of the Inspector General. It was the third time a complaint was sent to OIG. OIG officials claimed they lost the other two, according to the complaint.

OIG sent the complaint to the New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct.

On December 28, 2019, Klymn was notified by the Commission on Judicial Conduct that Rosenbaum agreed to resign and that would end the investigation.

“Between 2005 and 2019, defendants ignored the sexual discrimination against plaintiff, discouraged her from complaining about the illegal treatment she endured, and ignored the complaints plaintiff did submit,” according to the suit.

An attorney for Rosenbaum said he had no immediate comment. A spokesperson for the Office of Court Administration said “as we haven’t officially been served it would be inappropriate to comment at this time.”

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

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