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N.J. medic files suit against hospital for sexual harassment

Paramedic Caitlin Bopp says she was harassed by a colleague on duty at St. Joseph’s University Medical Center and ignored by hospital management when she sought help

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By Rachel Engel

PATERSON, N.J. — A paramedic is suing the hospital where she works for failure to take action after she was reportedly sexually harassed while on the job.

Caitlin Bopp, a paramedic at St. Joseph’s University Medical Center, says a fellow paramedic she was assigned to work with repeatedly harassed her, northjersey.com reported.

Bopp said the paramedic would discuss pornography and the type of videos he preferred to watch. In another, the paramedic told Bopp he wished the female uniforms “were see-through.”

In a separate incident, Bopp said the coworker allegedly “unbuckled his seatbelt, climbed over the center console and on top” of Bopp “to grab his clipboard,” resting “his head on [her] breasts and upper abdomen.”

The lawsuit states that Bopp attempted to elicit help from hospital management, but those efforts were “ignored or useless in stopping the sexual harassment.”

The male paramedic was eventually reassigned to a different ambulance, according to the suit.

“But [Bopp] still regularly sees him on their shifts and remains uncomfortable and fearful around him,” the lawsuit alleges. “Plaintiff rightfully believes that she should never have to see at work someone who sexually harassed her for months, including physical touching, while management ignored her several complaints.”

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