Former chief of staff says she was fired for reporting mold in state House district office

The former chief of staff for a Westmoreland County state legislator is suing him and members of the House Republican Caucus alleging that she was fired for reporting mold in the district office.

Marcel Nicole Ingram of West Newton is suing in federal court for retaliation under Pennsylvania’s Whistleblower law and violations of her First Amendment right to speak on a matter of public concern.

Ingram was assigned to serve as state Rep. Eric Davanzo’s chief of staff in March 2020.

Neither Davanzo, chief counsel for the caucus, nor a caucus spokesman returned messages seeking comment late Friday.

In early May, the lawsuit said, Ingram and another employee in the North Water Street district office in West Newton began to smell “strong foul odors” there.

They became so intense, the complaint said, that they burned the women’s eyes, and both began developing headaches when the odors were present.

On May 5, the complaint said, Davanzo, R-Smithton, sent a text message in response to Ingram’s complaint about the odor speculating that it was coming from the neighbor of the district office.

“He did not address his staff’s concerns about their burning eyes,” the complaint said.

The lawsuit said Ingram raised the issue with Davanzo several more times, and he repeatedly referred her to the district office landlord.

The lawsuit alleges that Ingram made multiple complaints to the landlord, but the landlord claimed to be unable to locate the source of the odor. Then, in early June, the landlord said a leak in the building might have been contributing to the odor.

On June 6, Ingram notified the landlord and Davanzo there was water coming through the district office floor. She also reported the flooding and odor to Lisa Zaucha, the southwest regional coordinator of district operations for the House Republican Caucus.

Ingram also complained about the situation to Davanzo on June 26 at a road-naming ceremony.

Then, on July 7, Zaucha emailed Ingram about the “‘mold situation.’” She was told by the caucus’ senior deputy chief counsel to buy mold tests.

Ingram bought them on July 12 and used them.

“After removing the vent covers, Ms. Ingram saw a significant amount of a mold-like substance, which she took pictures of in order to document the problem,” the lawsuit said.

The tests were positive for aspergillum/penicillium and stachybotrys, the complaint said.

That same day, the complaint said, Ingram told Davanzo the test results.

He responded angrily, asking who gave her permission to conduct the tests.

“He then claimed that he was not aware of the problem and accused Ms. Ingram of ‘opening a can of worms.’ ”

The next day, the complaint said, Davanzo “sent a profanity-laced email” to several caucus members, chastising Ingram for conducting the tests.

“In the email, Rep. Davanzo professed his ignorance of any staff complaints regarding health effects from the mold, inaccurately claiming, ‘Not once did my staff come to me and say Im (sic) feeling sick from working in this office, Hey I feel unsafe working here, not a word!’ ” the lawsuit said.

“Rep. Davanzo also expressed his frustration that there would not be an easy solution to the district office’s mold problem, making comments such as the following: ‘WTF is a mold expert?’ and ‘There is no way we can send them back in there without fixing the problem but how do we fix it, Lisa and Nikki mentioned tearing the drywall off the walls! I am livid and just pissed off!’”

He concluded the email, the lawsuit said, by writing, “I do not wish to have Nikki Ingram work for me anymore, and quite frankly, I don’t care if Lisa Zaucha joins her. This is just unacceptable! Now we are going to have to move offices? Show me one building from the 50s that doesn’t have a trace of mold in it, what’s next, The asbestos floor tile adhesive? It’s not going to end, we’ve opened a can of worms! I will no longer work with these two, I will shut my office down first!’ ”

On July 19, the lawsuit said, Ingram was called to a meeting and terminated.

She was told then that it was “due to a ‘clash of personalities’ and (that they) wanted to go in another direction,” the complaint said.

However, according to the lawsuit, Ingram received two other explanations for her termination, including that she was fired for rule violations involving conduct/discipline and annual leave policies.

“The HRC’s shifting justifications are pretextual, used to cover the termination of a whistleblower,” the lawsuit said. “When Ms. Ingram complained about the odors in the district office and informed Rep. Davanzo of the positive mold tests, she engaged in whistleblowing by making good faith reports of wrongdoing.”

Davanzo, 47, won reelection to represent the 58th District on Tuesday. The district includes Monessen, East Huntingdon, Sewickley, South Huntingdon, North Belle Vernon, Rostraver, Scottdale, Smithton, Sutersville, West Newton and parts of Mt. Pleasant Township and North Huntingdon.