Sex Harassment and Retaliation Complaint Filed Against UPenn

Malvern, PA – Attorney Julie A. Uebler of Uebler Law LLC has filed a lawsuit against the University of Pennsylvania (Penn) in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania seeking to hold Penn accountable for refusing to protect Sophia O’Neill, a former lab supervisor and teaching assistant, from sexual harassment by a male student despite evidence that he was mentally unstable and potentially dangerous. 

The complaint includes allegations relating to the male student’s sexual harassment of Ms. O’Neill, including physical intimidation and intrusive sexualized messages, the limited investigation of the situation, and Penn’s insistence that Ms. O’Neill continue to teach her harasser to keep her job. According to the complaint, Penn rejected Ms. O’Neill’s efforts to resolve the situation by transferring to another lab space within the same program. Eventually, according to the lawsuit, Penn gave Ms. O’Neill an ultimatum to return to work and teach the harassing student, or be deemed to have abandoned her job, forcing her to choose between her job and her safety. 

The federal court complaint also alleges that Penn failed to discipline the student harasser, and allowed him to graduate with his Ivy League degree, despite Ms. O’Neill’s internal complaints, as well as documented complaints from her other students, about the impact of the alleged harassment on the workplace. 

After forcing Ms. O’Neill out of her job, according to the allegations in the case, Penn also retaliated against her for complaining about the sexual harassment by giving her a negative employment reference. Ms. O’Neill, who has an undergraduate degree from Cornell University and a Master of Science degree in Robotics and Autonomous systems from Penn’s Weitzman School of Design, struggled to find new employment as a result of Penn’s retaliatory actions, according to the complaint.

The case is captioned Sophia O’Neill v. Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania, Civil Action Case No. 2:25-cv-01129.  

Any employees who believe they have been subjected to harassment or retaliation similar to that of the plaintiff in this action may contact Uebler Law LLC to discuss their own legal options. Contact the law firm at ueblerlaw.com/contact-us.