An employee at an unassuming doctor’s office in Long Beach — a woman who is pregnant — said her boss told her she should not have the baby because she would miss work, and suggested that she have an abortion.
Another employee said she saw the doctor attempt to put his hands up a female patient’s skirt, while another said he “stalked” his employees after business hours.
These are just some of the explicit, often alarming details included in a complaint against a Long Beach doctor accused of sexually harassing three female former employees who were fired in October, after they endured over two years of groping, lewd messages and inappropriate comments,
they said.
They filed a complaint with the New York State Division of Human Rights on Dec. 17 against Dr. Edward M. Kleiner, of Beach and Surf Medical on West Beech Street. The complaint details alleged sexual harassment, gender discrimination and retaliation after Kleiner, an osteopath and the only doctor in the practice, sent the women explicit text messages seeking sexual relationships, exposed himself, asked them out on dates, touched them inappropriately and followed them outside work, among other claims.
“Most of it was text messages, and some of it was outside of the office, but most of it was in the office,” said attorney Lenard Leeds of Leeds, Morelli & Brown, which is representing the women. “This is one of the worst sexual harassment cases I have ever seen in 25 years of practicing law.”
Long Beach resident Shivon Super, 31, Beach and Surf Medical’s former office manager, who was hired in 2007; 21-year-old Inwood resident Samantha Romanger, an administrative assistant who was hired in 2009; and Lauren Schlanger, 21, of Far Rockaway, a former receptionist, said the harassment began in 2008.
According to the complaint, in 2009 Kleiner exposed himself to Schlanger and Romanger in an examination room. Schlanger, who was then 19, said that Kleiner often told her she had a nice behind and chest, and had also told her she would look better if she lost weight and pressured her to take weight-loss pills. Also in 2009, Kleiner is accused of trying to kiss Romanger in an exam room, an advance she refused. Leeds said that the women never had any sexual or romantic relationships with their boss.
In one of the tamer text messages obtained by the Herald that Kleiner allegedly sent to Super in July, he wrote, “Shivon, can’t we please have an affair?”
The complaint includes accusations of touching staff and patients inappropriately, bringing an inflatable sex doll to an office party — attorneys distributed photos of what they said is Kleiner toting the doll — fraudulent billing activity, having the women write prescriptions for patients and accepting marijuana as payment.
Kleiner, who Leeds said also works as a physician for the Long Beach Fire Department and treats patients with addiction problems at Long Beach Medical Center, could not be reached for comment at his office on Monday and Tuesday and did not return calls.
Leeds said the women are seeking unspecified compensation for emotional distress. “They’ve been seeing therapists after all that he put them through,” Leeds said.
At a press conference on Monday, the women claimed that they were “shaken” by the incidents, and said they were fired in October after they refused to assist Kleiner during what is described in the complaint as an “inappropriate” and “possibly illegal act” during the artificial insemination of a patient on Oct. 26 and 27.
According to the complaint, a married couple came to the office after Kleiner agreed to inseminate the woman. Kleiner, who Leeds said is not a fertility specialist, allegedly instructed the couple to go into the bathroom and have intercourse in order to obtain the husband’s semen, while other patients and staff overheard the sounds in the waiting room.
Afterward, according to Leeds, Kleiner instructed Schlanger and Romanger to be in the exam room during the insemination process. The women, who are not health care workers, refused, saying that Kleiner was not a licensed fertility specialist and had never conducted fertility tests, and that his actions constituted medical malpractice.
“He demanded that two of the girls come in with him so they [could] witness it,” Leeds said. “We have not seen any evidence that he was licensed to be a fertility doctor.”
According to the complaint, Kleiner fired the women on Oct. 26 as retaliation for their refusal to participate. Super was fired the following day for allegedly refusing to support Kleiner’s actions. Asked why the women did not report the abuse to the authorities sooner, Leeds said that they were afraid to come forward, until they were fired.
“They complained to him and they asked him to stop on multiple occasions,” Leeds said. “These are young girls — one is a single mom — and they needed work, and they also said that they didn’t think anyone would believe them over a prominent doctor, and he had threatened to fire them all of the time.”
Leeds added that the women are planning to move forward with a federal lawsuit. “As soon as the dust clears, we’ll proceed forward with the case,” he said.
Comments about this story? Arifilato@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 213.
