NJ Corrections Officer Says Workplace Harassment Gave Her PTSD, Lawsuit Says

PASSAIC COUNTY, NJ — A Passaic County corrections officer’s lawsuit says that years of sexual harassment by her coworkers and unfair promotion denial have given her Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

Nicole Staso, of Wayne, began working as a Passaic County Sheriff’s Office corrections officer in April 2017. She retired in April 2025 and received a disability pension in October.

In her time with the Passaic County Sheriff’s Office, Staso says she endured years of sexual harassment and discrimination in the workplace, resulting in mental health deterioration and, therefore, an early retirement.

According to a recently filed suit, Staso began getting harassed roughly a year after starting her job, in the summer of 2018.

The harassment began with comments on her appearance, with one lieutenant, George Rosario, telling her to wear her hair back, and saying she was “too pretty to work,” when she wore make-up, the suit reads.

Staso reported the behavior to PBA President John Welsh, who she later learned was “close friends” with Rosario, and he dismissed the complaint, according to court documents.

Months later, a photo of Staso and a male sergeant hugging went around the office, joined by false rumors that Staso was giving the sergeant a “lap-dance” when it was taken, the suit reads.

Rosario, who allegedly “frequently engaged in sexual activity with female officers,” deemed the situation required a sexual misconduct investigation into Staso, the suit says.

After a slew of complaints and investigations were tossed around the office, an internal investigation deemed the “lap-dance” had never occurred, the suit reads.

Despite the rumor being deemed untrue, Staso was suspended for “seditious behavior,” and later moved to the “far less desirable” night shift. Meanwhile, the sergeant in the photo suffered the “minor penalty” of losing one vacation day, according to court documents.

Additionally, Staso was labeled a “whore” and a “slut” in the workplace, despite the lap-dance rumor having no credibility, the suit reads. These labels continued being used against Staso for several years, she says.

Several male coworkers would continue to make sexual advances on Staso, with one saying that since his wife was pregnant and could not therefore “fool around,” he invited her to “get something going,” the suit reads.

In another instance, after Staso was put on the night shift, one officer said that only “bad girls” are put on that shift, adding that “bad girls deserve a spanking,” according to the complaint.

In her time with the Sheriff’s Office, Staso would exceed the expectations of her employers, being responsible for the biggest drug bust in the jail’s history, and saving the life of a fellow officer who underwent a cardiac event, the suit says.

Despite this, along with the continuing discrimination and harassment, Staso was continuously passed over for promotion and reassigned to “less desirable” shifts and posts. Other officers also refused to nominate her for promotions due to “fear of being sexually linked” to Staso, the suit says.

At one point, she was reassigned to the criminally mentally ill ward, a post not often assigned to female officers. These inmates “routinely exposed their genitals and acted in a manner consistent with the criminally sexually insane.”

Over the following years, other instances of discrimination and harassment would occur, including forcing Staso (and other female officers) to “beg” for a bathroom key, offering and subsequently rescinding promotions, and subjecting her to continuous name-calling, the suit says.

In another instance, Staso was passed over for a Community Policing Sector position because the undersheriffs believed “her tits are too big and she would be flirting with the civilians,” according to the suit.

It was in May 2024 when Staso began seeing a psychiatrist to treat her “crippling” agoraphobia, panic, anxiety, depression, and she was later diagnosed with PTSD.

Staso’s disability has resulted in her having trouble leaving the house, as she now has trouble going outside without a family member to accompany her, the suit says.

“(Staso) has been advised that her crippling agoraphobia, panic, anxiety, depression and PTSD are a direct result of the multi-year sexually humiliating, retaliating, egregious and abusive sexual misconduct to which she had been exposed by her male peers and by male management, all of whom either participated in, ratified, or were willfully indifferent to, the sexual discrimination and harassment,” the suit says.

Staso’s suit makes several claims, including sexual harassment, sexual discrimination, and retaliation, to name a few. She is seeking compensatory damages, punitive damages, interest, costs of suit, attorneys’ fees, enhanced attorneys’ fees, equitable back pay, equitable front pay, and equitable reinstatement.

Patch has reached out to the Passaic County Sheriff’s Office, which was not immediately available for comment.