Denis Slattery
A TWU Local 100 union head Frank Austin, tasked with tracking assaults on bus drivers, has been ordered to keep away from bus operator Cassandra White, who accused him of sexual harassment.
A TWU Local 100 union head whose job is to track assaults on bus drivers was ordered to stay away from one of his own members Wednesday.
A Bronx family court judge ordered Frank Austin, a union division chair for MTA buses in the Bronx and Manhattan, to cease all personal contact with bus operator Cassandra White.
The order of protection was issued after White, 45, filed a complaint alleging her union boss was stalking her and sexually harassing her at work.
White and Austin had a two-year affair that ended around August 2012, according to union sources and court papers.
After she broke it off, Austin began harassing her, including attempts to get her fired because she wouldn’t sleep with him again, her complaint said.
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His alleged harassment included menacing her at work, stalking her and posting intimate pictures from their time together online without her permission, her protection order request said.
On Wednesday, the recently married White, who is one month pregnant, refused to look at her union representative and former lover who sat directly across the table from her.
Austin’s attorney agreed to a modified temporary order of protection against her client.
The order would bar Austin from all contact with White except for “legitimate work-related purposes and communication.”
White held her head in her hands while Family Court Judge John Kelly and the two lawyers agreed on a March date to begin arguments.
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Richard Harbus for NY Daily News
All transit employees are required to participate in sexual harassment awareness training, as mandated by Gov. Cuomo’s Employee Relations office.
Retu Singla, Austin’s union lawyer, said the agreement to the modification was “not an admission of guilt.”
Austin declined to comment as he left the courthouse wearing a silver suit and a fedora.
His union said his case was under careful scrutiny.
“We take charges of any nature against an elected officer very seriously. We’ve assigned a union attorney to defend our officer and the organization. A trial date has been set for late March so we’ll wait to see the outcome,” a spokesman said.
Austin’s lawyer didn’t respond to an email asking why the union had provided legal counsel for Austin but not White, who is also a dues-paying Local 100 member.
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White, her new husband and their lawyer didn’t talk as they left the Bronx courthouse.
But a family member with knowledge of the events said Austin had been waging a war of terror on White since she ended their relationship.
“He calls family and mutual friends trying to get messages to her, even after her lawyer wrote him a letter telling him to stop,” the source said. “He’s made her life a nightmare.”
An MTA spokesman said the allegations against Austin were under investigation. He also said all transit employees are currently undergoing mandatory sexual harassment awareness training — mandated by Gov. Cuomo’s Employee Relations office.
The spokesman said it was routine training, but a union source said Cuomo’s office issued the directive in an attempt to lessen the number of sexual harassment lawsuits filed by employees.
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