"Based upon the evidence, we conclude that not only was she subjected to unwelcome sexual harassment by the president, but her terms and conditions of employment were adversely affected in retaliation for rebuffing the president's advances and for participating in an investigation of the harassment that ultimately caused the termination of the president,'' EEOC said.

In the case of Ms. Straub, the EEOC found Tullis began sexually harassing her at the same time.

That harassment consisted of Tullis' "propositions to have sex with him, comments of an explicit sexual nature, sexual comments about other female employees, continuously trying to travel with her, insisted on her having lunch with him, called her at home, told her that he loved her and virtually stalked her to be with her for sex and made false rumors of a sexual nature about her,'' the federal agency said.

EEOC also said:

The agency determined in both cases "there is reason to believe'' there were violations of the federal Civil Rights Act.

Tullis' last known address was in New Galilee in Beaver County. Information said he had an unlisted telephone number.

Acting as his spokesman, Maureen Kelly, a Pittsburgh lawyer who described herself as a personal counsel to Tullis and his wife, said he "absolutely denies the allegations. This is a guy of significant personal integrity who is just outraged that two people would go out and make these allegations.''

She also said she believed the two women were motivated by money.

"I think the filing of the complaint with their affidavits attached is an attempt by these women to extort money from FNB and the individual defendants,'' Ms. Kelly said. "I think the two women are playing off of each other trying to get money off of the company.''

Moreover, she said, the allegations don't jibe with their actions.

"Their allegations are inconsistent with the fact that they repeatedly sent cards to Mr. Tullis and his wife for Christmas, the holidays and for his and her birthdays,'' she said.

Ms. Kelly said at no time during its investigation did EEOC contact Tullis to get his side of the story.

"There was no mail. No phone calls. No nothing. That is extremely unusual and which to me is incredibly inappropriate,'' Ms. Kelly said.

She also noted EEOC could have filed suit on behalf of the women but opted not to take that step.

"If they think a case has merit, they'll take it and go after it,'' Ms. Kelly said. Otherwise, it's up to an individual to file suit, she added.

Tullis' departure from the service center was in no way connected to the women's allegations, she said. She declined to say why Tullis no longer works at the center.

"That is absolutely untrue that he was fired,'' she said.

Separate suits filed in December by the two women in U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh seek, among other things, unspecified punitive and compensatory damages, interest and legal fees and a ban on the defendants engaging in such conduct in the future. No hearing dates have been scheduled.

The suits give explicit, and at times salacious, details of the alleged conduct and verbal comments by Tullis directed toward the women.

In one instance, according to the suit, Tullis falsely told one woman that the other, "was coming on to him ..., rubbing her bare legs on him, baring her breasts to him and trying to get him to 'spend time' with her.''

In another situation Tullis told one woman that the other "revealed her private parts in the office,'' according to the suit.

In addition to writing Ms. Straub love letters and notes, the suit says Tullis "... told her in detail his fantasies about her with him ...''

Further, Tullis told Ms. Straub about "how many people's jobs depended on his convincing FNB not to relocate the CSC (the service center) to Florida," the suit said.

FNB last year moved its Hermitage headquarters to Naples, Fla.

In addition to FNB, the service center and Tullis, the other defendants listed in the suit are: Kathleen Meli, head of human resources at the service center; William Rundorff, executive vice president and an in-house attorney for FNB; and Gary Tice, who at the time of the alleged harassment was president and chief operating officer of FNB. Tice is now president and chief executive officer of the company.

By law, EEOC is not allowed to comment on specific cases or confirm if a particular complaint had been filed, said Eugene V. Nelson, area director for EEOC's Pittsburgh office.

Generally speaking, Nelson said the office would contact people named in a complaint who allegedly committed sexual harassment for their side of the story.

"It doesn't mean that happens in every case, but in general that's the way it's carried out,'' he said.

Reacting to Ms. Kelly's comments, John M. O'Donnell, a Pittsburgh lawyer representing the two women, said the case has merit.

"We do have corroboration and other witnesses who are not parties to the case who basically corroborated their story,'' O'Donnell said.

FNB is a multi-bank and financial holding company which owns, in addition to the service center, First National Bank of Pennsylvania, which is headquartered in Hermitage and is among the larger employers in Mercer County. First National was not mentioned in EEOC's investigation and is not a defendant in either suit.

Cone, the FNB spokesman, said the company strongly denies the allegations and will vigorously defend itself.

"We believe the allegations are baseless and the lawsuit should be dismissed,'' Cone said.

"I can tell you our company has solid civil rights treatment programs in place to prevent these kinds of things from happening,'' Cone said. "We do not foster these kinds of things. We do not foster these kinds of activities.''