Bogus Sexual Harassment Claim Cost JJC Professor His Job: Lawsuit

JOLIET, IL — A former Joliet Junior College social sciences professor lost his job after he was accused of sexual harassment and the claim was supported by “incomplete,” “altered” and “fake” text messages, according to a lawsuit filed in Will County court.

Robert Bastian lost his job after allegations of sexual harassment were leveled against him in 2014, the lawsuit said.

Bastian and his union representative asked for a copy of the student’s sexual harassment complaint, the suit said, but they were instead provided only with copies of text messages.

Bastian was “immediately suspicious” since “many pages of the ‘alleged texts’ had no date and/or time on them, like the others,” the suit said. Bastian then allegedly informed two JJC employees, Judy Connelly and Julie McNeal, that the texts were “incomplete and in some instances, fake,” and the communication had actually been initiated by the student.

The JJC website lists Connelly as the interim executive director of the human resources department. The Linkedin page for a Julie McNeil says she was the executive director from August 2014 until June.
Bastian requested that the JJC police investigate the texts but Connolly and McNeal told them not to, the suit said.

Connelly and McNeal violated Bastian’s rights, the suit said, “in order to try and further their own employment opportunities.”

Two days before a hearing on the matter, Bastian received a copy of the student’s complaint but was not left adequate time to dispute it, the lawsuit said.