The former Millennial mayor of the Hamptons, who was accused of pimping out his secretary, has had sexual harassment claims against him dropped – with a judge finding that his “rude” and “unpleasant” behavior did not cross a legal line.
Accuser Miranda Webber failed to prove that former Southampton Village Mayor Jesse Warren’s “toxic” behavior toward her was discriminatory, the judge said, calling his actions little more than a gender-neutral power trip.
“While the totality of the circumstances allege the mayor engaged in rude and inappropriate workplace conduct, inappropriateness alone does not constitute actionable gender-based harassment,” Dutchess County Superior Court Judge Maureen Liccione ruled Thursday.
Liccione noted in her ruling that Weber’s 2024 lawsuit “describes a controlling, erratic, and demanding supervisor.”
“But Warren’s behavior, while disturbing and reprehensible, was gender neutral,” she wrote.
Weber worked for the then-mayor — who was the city’s youngest when he was elected at age 36 in 2019 — for nearly two years before she resigned in 2022, and later sued him for harassment, gender discrimination and retaliation.
But her claims were dismissed, largely because she failed to prove that the men in Warren’s office received better treatment than she did, Liccione’s ruling said.
The most surprising allegation in the suit — that Warren ostensibly pimped Weber to dinner with a disability trustee in exchange for a positive political vote — constituted “political manipulation,” not harassment, because she failed to prove that the request was because she was a woman, the judge ruled.
The judge wrote that Weber’s suit offered a “menu of plausible, nondiscriminatory explanations” for Warren’s treatment of her, namely that he was motivated more by his political future than hostility toward her gender, effectively undermining her entire claim.
Weber’s claims that Warren psychologically manipulated her lacked a clear factual connection that the behavior was related to her gender, not his “controlling personality,” according to Liccioni.
Her lawsuit also alleged that Warren refused to give her a 70% raise she requested three months after she was hired, from $50,000 to $85,000, because he was concerned about the “optics” of giving his “attractive young” secretary a massive raise, according to court documents.
He also had to appeal to the city council, which actually controls employee salaries. A month later, the village increased Weber’s salary by $18,000, and within 16 months she received a total raise of $30,000, bringing her salary to $80,000, the resolution states.
But Weber claimed she was discriminated against because of her gender, noting that a male employee was hired at a higher salary, up to $2,000 more.
Liccione found this example “unhelpful,” noting that the appointment was for a completely different role in the civil service with more educational requirements and duties than her duties as secretary.
The fact that she was denied a promotion to the position “creates an objectively hostile work environment,” the judge said.
“If that were the case, all workplaces would be classified as ‘hostile’ work environments,” Liccione wrote.
Many of Weber’s claims have been repeated in… Earlier the lawsuit was quickly dismissed It was introduced in 2023 by the former village official.
In 2021, Warren made news when a former mayor bought the building he was staying in and then moved to evict him. He lost re-election in 2022.
Warren’s attorney, Craig V., said: Rizzo, they are “pleased with the decision” to dismiss the lawsuit.
Weber’s lawyers did not respond to a request for comment.