Female drug rehab boss bullied underling into early-morning sex romps in office: lawsuit

A Long Island man claims he was forced to bed his female boss for years at the Queens drug rehab where they worked — and she even tried to justify the morning sex romps by invoking former President Obama.

“Barack met Michelle at work. She was his boss. Be presidential … I think the next text [from you]
should be saying Thank you,” Saint Joseph’s Medical Center program director Michele Poole allegedly told underling Kian Cooper, according to his $100 million sex discrimination lawsuit. “I’m sooo undervalued. You know even a Mercedes needs a tune up sometimes.”

Everyone at the job knew what was going on behind the closed doors of Poole’s office, because of “the loud noises relative to sexual activities,” he alleged in the Brooklyn Supreme Court complaint filed against her and the company.

And every time he tried to put a stop to the twisted rendezvous, she threatened to fire him.

“I asked her to stop, face to face, numerous times, more than 100 times and in text messages about 12 to 14 times,” he contended.

“Find another job,” Poole allegedly told Cooper.

Poole adamantly denied the allegations to The Post — insisting their six-month affair was mutual; that Cooper showered her with gifts and romantic cards, and that she had no authority to hire or fire him.

“He’s just making stuff up,” she insisted. “I have proof of the intimate things he sent me.”

“I have credible evidence and I will be filing a lawsuit against anyone who slanders me,” she added.

Cooper also claimed Poole had an affair with a second employee — but the man denied the allegation to The Post.

The alleged sexual encounters took place two to three times a week in her fourth-floor office, often near the start of his 6 a.m. shift, when Poole would summon him, Cooper alleged in court papers.

“After a while I would do things to avoid her,” he alleged, adding, “Walking from the third to the fourth floor, I would think, ‘Damn it, how am I going to get out of this office without feeling gross?’

“I basically was just trying to take the abuse and save my job,” said Cooper, 50, who is still employed as a clinical supervisor with Saint Joseph’s.  

Poole is no longer employed at Saint Joseph’s, though it’s unclear if she was terminated or allowed to leave on her own, Cooper’s lawyers said.

Desperate to keep the job due to a past drug conviction, Cooper — who has since earned two Master’s degrees in social work and urban affairs — allegedly in his lawsuit that Poole was already having an affair with another employee at Saint Joseph’s opioid treatment center when he began in 2019.

In 2022, the flirty Poole allegedly sent him an anonymous fruit basket before demanding a sexual relationship — which kicked off with a date at the Marriott Marquis in Midtown, he claimed.

Cooper, who said he’s since been diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder, took two medical leaves, including one month-long absence and another two months, due to stress and anxiety, he said in the lawsuit.

After he finally complained in February 2024, Poole allegedly told Cooper, “The sh-t you pulled was extremely foul. You hung me out to dry.”

Men are just as much victims of sexual harassment as women, said Cooper’s lawyers, JoAnn Squillace and Stephen Drummond.

Poole sent fruit baskets to all the employees for their birthdays, she told The Post, and denied any sex took place in the office.

“We had a full staff by 6 a.m.,” she said, noting her secretary was present during their meetings. “I’ve never done anything to harm him.”

Saint Joseph’s did not return a request for comment.