Maurice Wightman
/ photo: Simmons Institute
SYRACUSE -- The president of a Syracuse mortuary school is being sued for sexual harassment of female students, as well as discriminating against pregnant students.
The state attorney general's office has filed a lawsuit against Simmons Institute of Funeral Services and its president and CEO, Maurice Wightman.
The lawsuit was filed in Onondaga County Supreme Court seeks to stop long standing harassment and discrimination at the Simmons Institute and seeks damages for women harmed by such conduct. The Simmons Institute is located at 1828 South Avenue at West Brighton Avenue in Syracuse. According to its website, the Simmons Institute has been in business for more than 100 years.
According to the attorney general's office, the mortuary science program offered there is one of only a handful in New York State.
The office says it began its investigation after receiving multiple complaints about harassment and discrimination. The complaints accuse Wightman, as well as an instructor, of engaging in a pattern of illegal sexual harassment of female students for several years.
According to the lawsuit, the harassment consisted of repeated and persistent touching, hugging, groping, sexual propositions, sexual jokes, and sexual comments directed towards female students. Simmons is also accused of discriminating "against women in employment and education by maintaining a discriminatory policy excluding all pregnant women from certain aspects of the program without consulting with the employee and without sufficient justification."
The AGs office says discriminatory practices that deprive women of equal opportunity in education and employment violate state and federal law. This includes Title IX, which makes it unlawful for an institution receiving federal funds, like the Simmons Institute, to engage in sex discrimination in education.
