Hudson County agreed to pay $67,500 to settle a sexual harassment lawsuit filed by a county receptionist who accused Edward Stack, the estranged brother of Union City Mayor Brian Stack, of harassing her for more than a year. Raquel Chowanec, who worked as a receptionist for the Hudson County Department of Parks and Public Property, reached the settlement with the county on April 10, according to records tied to her complaint.
The payout was uncovered and published this month by open records advocate John Paff through his website TransparencyNJ.com, as reported by Hudson County View. Chowanec had filed a four-count lawsuit against Edward Stack and others in Hudson County Superior Court, alleging a hostile work environment, sexual harassment, gender or sex discrimination, retaliation, and aiding and abetting illegal discrimination. Court filings describe Stack, starting in 2023, engaging in verbal abuse, unwanted sexual advances, sexually explicit voicemails and text messages, suggestive pictures, offensive jokes, and comments about her appearance, per the lawsuit. The complaint also alleges Stack spread rumors that he and Chowanec were having an affair and falsely claimed to possess naked pictures of her.
A Birthday Voicemail Cited as Key Evidence
Among the evidence supporting Chowanec's case was a recorded voicemail from June 21, 2024, in which Stack allegedly made explicit sexually charged remarks to her on her birthday. A no-contact order between Chowanec and Stack was issued on November 25, 2024, but the lawsuit alleges Stack violated that order at least twice within less than two months of it taking effect in 2025.
The lawsuit also names supervisor John Kelly, who Chowanec alleges retaliated against her after she submitted internal harassment reports by denying her overtime and informing her she would not receive the same number of vacation, personal, and sick days as the prior year. According to the complaint, Chowanec took roughly three-and-a-half months of leave for major depression she attributed to the ongoing harassment, and the lawsuit alleges the county delayed acting on her complaints until after that leave. She sought damages covering pain and humiliation, back pay and benefits, front pay and benefits, consequential and punitive damages, emotional distress, equitable relief, prejudgment interest, and attorney fees and costs.
Terms of the April Settlement
Beyond the $67,500 payment, the settlement required Hudson County to cover all mediator fees and reimburse Chowanec $2,500 for a mediator retainer, while each side paid its own attorney fees and costs. The agreement also mandated that county leadership hold formal management meetings with security personnel regarding their working relationship with reception staff, and it required continued enforcement of the prior no-contact order between Chowanec and Stack.
The settlement included a confidentiality clause, but it remains a public record under New Jersey law. Under N.J.S.A. 10:5-12.8, part of New Jersey's 2019 Law Against Discrimination amendments, non-disclosure provisions in employment settlement agreements covering discrimination, harassment, or retaliation claims are unenforceable against current or former employees, according to Foley & Lardner. Separately, the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled in March 2022, in Libertarians for Transparent Government v. Cumberland County, that settlement agreements between public employers and government workers are public records subject to disclosure under the Open Public Records Act, as reported by NJ Spotlight News.
The Stack Family Connection
Edward Stack is the estranged brother of Brian Stack, who has served as Mayor of Union City since 2000 and as New Jersey State Senator for District 33 since 2008, a district that covers Union City, Hoboken, Weehawken, and parts of Jersey City, according to Ballotpedia. Chowanec was represented by Paula Dillon, a partner at Goldman Davis Krumholz & Dillon, P.C., a firm based in Hackensack. Hudson County spokesman Mark Cygan declined to comment beyond the terms of the settlement.
This is not the first time Hudson County has settled employment litigation exposed through Paff's records requests. In July 2017, the county agreed to a $120,000 settlement resolving a retaliation lawsuit brought by three sheriff's officers against a former sheriff, a payout that Paff also originally obtained and published. Retaliation claims remain the single most frequently filed charge category before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, according to legal analysis from Foley & Lardner, underscoring how common the retaliation allegations in Chowanec's case are within broader workplace litigation trends. Hoodline previously reported on related Hudson County civil litigation in testimony tied to Stack promotions, which touched on past municipal settlements involving workplace harassment claims.
