RAHWAY – A $2 million settlement has been reached in a lawsuit filed by a city worker against the city and former Mayor Samson Steinman who allegedly engaged in a "campaign of relentless sexual harassment" of her.

Denise Rolong, a city resident who began working for the city in May 2014, settled the lawsuit out of court for $2 million, according to a New Jersey Law Journal report. State records show Rolong earned a city salary of $57,474 as of Dec. 31, 2021.

Last week Rolong's attorney Gregory Noble and attorney Matthew Tavares, who represented the city, signed court papers announcing the lawsuit had been amicably resolved and agreed that it should be dismissed, according to the Sept. 9 court documents which also were signed by Steinman's attorney, Victoria Flynn, and former Rahway Business Administrator Cherron Rountree's attorney, Sandro Polledri.

In June Tavares sent a letter to Union County Superior Court saying that the case had been settled and the parties were in the process of finalizing the agreement.

In 2019, Rolong, who had worked at the Rahway Senior Center, Recreation Department, City Clerk's Office and as the managing director of the city's art gallery, filed a lawsuit against the city, Steinman and Rountree.

According to the lawsuit, over the course of Rolong's city employment, "Steinman made comments to her that she should dress in sexy costumes for Halloween events, a sexy elf during 'winter wonderland' on two occasions and that he liked the way her body looked in certain dresses she had worn, which he suggested she wear again."

The comments made Rolong so uncomfortable that she made a conscious effort not to look "sexy" or desirable to avoid further comments, the lawsuit says.

Steinman, who became acting mayor in September 2013 and full-time mayor in 2014, allegedly made comments to Rolong about his sexual exploits and would get upset if she encouraged him to date other people. Steinman resigned as mayor on Christmas Eve in 2017.

According to the lawsuit, in May 2014 she received text messages from the mayor asking her to meet him at his office at City Hall. When she arrived, a "distressed" Steinman allegedly told Rolong he loved her and begged her not to date any city residents because he knew everyone in town.

Rountree was allegedly aware of Steinman's feelings toward Rolong and urged him to convey them to her on several occasions, the lawsuit says.

That same month Rolong began dating a man and Steinman allegedly became upset and would constantly ask Rolong where she was. She began to feel she was being watched by Steinman's close friends, the lawsuit says.

"Steinman had a pattern of hiring female employees that he found attractive in order to exert his influence as supervisor and/or mayor to sexually harass them," other court documents state.

In town:'Everybody loved him': Rahway honors late teammate with win

During the November 2015 League of Municipalities Conference in Atlantic City, Steinman became intoxicated one night and Rolong helped him to his hotel room and after she said goodnight, Steinman allegedly pushed her up against a wall in the room and forcibly kissed her, the lawsuit alleged. He loosened his grasp when someone knocked on the door and Rolong was able to escape, the lawsuit says.

Earlier that year after Steinman saw Rolong speaking to a male city worker, the city denied the renewal of that man's work visa and he was forced to return to Australia, according to the lawsuit. In addition, another male city employee who was seen talking to Rolong was allegedly forced into retirement by Steinman, the lawsuit says.

According to the lawsuit, in December 2016 Steinman told Rolong about an incident at the League of Municipalities in which he won a contest by performing oral sex on a dancer and female employee at a strip club. He also said he had been to a party and had sex with another city worker's relative, the lawsuit says.

Late on March 18, 2017, after Rolong received a bunch of text messages and calls from Steinman to meet him at a city restaurant, which she declined, she heard a loud bang outside her home, and went outside where she saw a vehicle in the middle of the road that she thought might be Steinman's city-issued vehicle and she called police, according to the lawsuit. She contacted Steinman to ask if he had been in an accident on her street, and he said he had slid on ice or hit a pothole, but she didn't notice any ice or potholes on her street, the lawsuit says. Steinman was administered a field sobriety test and when Rolong spoke to him later that night his words were slurred, the lawsuit says.

Steinman was charged with careless driving and failure to exhibit documents in connection to a car accident he was involved in on March 18, 2017, according to police documents. It was Steinman's second accident with a city-owned vehicle in less than a year.

Following that incident Steinman was allegedly forced to fly to Florida to a facility to get help, the lawsuit says.

After the March 2017 car accident, Rolong set up a meeting with Roundtree to discuss the mayor's behavior toward Rolong, which she described as "stalking," and told Rountree she was not romantically interested in Steinman, but they were friends, courts documents say. Rolong told Roundtree that she was aware Steinman had called the business administrator after both of his car accidents, including the one on Rolong's street, according to court documents.

According to court documents, Steinman abused his position of power by harassing women under his supervision and Roundtree responded to complaints of sexual harassment by retaliating against the employees that made them.

Those court documents allege Steinman had an 18-year-old intern drive him to the home of a relative, restaurant and bars and he sat in the front seat where he made inappropriate physical contact, approached the intern in just a towel after having her drive him home before going to an event, sent her inappropriate text messages, tried to kiss her, and pressured her to drink alcohol at his election party even though she was underage.

In the summer of 2017 after Rolong asked Steinman not to visit her at the city gallery where she worked, Steinman gave out raises to city workers, but Rolong was not included, the lawsuit says.

That same year Steinman said he was sending notices of a gallery event to Rolong's contacts, but apparently never did and she felt he was setting her up for failure, the lawsuit says.

In December 2017, Rolong spoke to a city councilwoman about the sexual harassment from Steinman, according to the lawsuit. Later that month on Dec. 24, 2017, the councilwoman met with Rountree and the council president to discuss Rolong's sexual harassment complaints and that same day Steinman resigned as mayor, the lawsuit says.

According to the lawsuit, since Rolong complained about the sexual harassment, Rountree attempted to discredit her and her work ethic to other city employees in retaliation for filing suit. She was stripped of her management responsibilities as managing director of the gallery, which constitutes a demotion and she was written up, demoted and suspended by the city for insignificant reasons, the lawsuit says.

Suzanne Russell is a breaking news reporter for MyCentralJersey.com covering crime, courts and other mayhem. To get unlimited access, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.