A federal sexual harassment lawsuit filed by four Schuylkill County courthouse employees against Commissioner George F. Halcovage Jr. may headed for settlement for the county and two of the defendants.

The U.S. Department of Justice on Thursday filed a letter to Magistrate Judge Martin C. Carlson, United States District Court, Scranton.

“The United States and Schuylkill County believe that mediation could be beneficial, and hereby jointly request mediation with Magistrate Judge (Joseph F.) Saporito (Jr.), if possible.”

The letter was signed by Karen D. Woodard, Chief Employment Litigation Section; Allan K. Townsend and Amber Trzinski Fox, Senior Trial Attorneys, Employment Litigation Section; and Marie Milie Jones, counsel for defendants Schuylkill County, County Administrator Gary R. Bender and former Human Services Director Heidi L. Zula.

Also on Thursday, Judge Carlson issued an order granting the request.

Her order referred it to “Chief Magistrate Judge (Karoline) Mehalchick for the purpose assigning a magistrate judge or mediator to conduct a settlement conference at a date and time that is mutually convenient to the parties and the court. We note that the parties have specifically requested the assistance of Judge Saporito. The parties will provide a settlement conference status report on or before March 1, 2023,” Carlson wrote.

Judge Mehalchick that same day referred the matter to Saporito.

The women, identified only as Jane Doe 1, Jane Doe 2, Jane Doe 3, and Jane Doe 4, filed the lawsuit on March 16, 2021.

They contend that beginning in 2012, the year Halcovage was first elected, “he sexually harassed, and intimidated them.”

Halcovage has denied the accusations.

A second complaint was filed on Oct. 29, 2021, contending the women were retaliated against for filing the initial suit, including being demoted and suspended.

However, two of the women’s names, those of Tax Claim Office Director Angela Toomey and her assistant Denise McGinley-Gerchak, were revealed to the public after they were accused of improperly using the county’s expensive software to search names, including those of public officials. Two attempts to fire them have failed.

They were suspended without pay in September 2021, but won the right to 26 weeks of unemployment compensation.

Named in the suit are the county, Halcovage, Bender, Risk Manager/Assistant County Solicitor Glenn T. Roth Jr., and former human resources directors Doreen Kutzler and Zula.

The allegations against Halcovage came to light in 2020, when an investigation by the county Human Resources Department determined Halcovage violated the sexual harassment, conduct and disciplinary action, and the physical and verbal abuse policies - transgressions that would have gotten him fired had he been an employee, the report said.

The matter was sent to the state Office of the Attorney General, which did not file charges.

The U.S. Department of Justice in May joined the suit.

Also, a state legislative subcommittee is weighing whether to refer Halcovage for impeachment.

The House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Courts has listened to testimony, and expects to resume considerations when it meets again in 2023.

In September, it voted 5-1 to send a criminal referral to the state Office of the Attorney General.

No further information was available from that office.