An employee at the Schools Development Authority – who is related to the agency's chief executive officer – resigned Friday after top officials there learned she had been accused of sexual harassment in a previous public job.

The authority requested that Kenia Nunez-Acuna resign hours after NorthJersey.com and the USA TODAY NETWORK New Jersey asked about allegations against her while she was the business administrator for Buena Vista, in Atlantic County.

Friday's swift call for a resignation stands in contrast to how the Murphy administration handled another sexual misconduct allegation by a top official at the same authority, which is responsible for funding nearly $11 billion for new public school construction, according to its latest annual report.

The authority's former chief of staff, Al Alvarez, was told at least three times to leave his position, beginning last March, but remained on the job until a reporter asked in October about an allegation that he sexually assaulted Katie Brennan, now a top housing official, during the 2017 gubernatorial campaign. Alvarez was hired at $140,000 a year and then, in a restructuring at the authority, saw his salary grow to $170,000 before he resigned.

The circumstances of Nunez-Acuna's departure resemble Alvarez's in one way: Authority CEO Lizette Delgado-Polanco said she was unaware of the allegations.

When Delgado-Polanco testified last month before the Select Oversight Committee investigating Alvarez's hiring, she said she was not made aware of the allegation against Alvarez when she was brought on last August and that, had she been given a “heads up” about it, “he wouldn’t be there.” Alvarez had been hired at the outset of the administration after working on Gov. Phil Murphy's campaign and transition.

Delgado-Polanco, who is also vice chairwoman of the Democratic State Committee, hired Nunez-Acuna as deputy director of grants last October, according to the authority, the same month Alvarez resigned. Her salary information was not immediately available.

Delgado-Polanco said she followed the proper ethics protocols in hiring her cousin, and Nunez-Acuna did not report directly to her.

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But in a statement Friday, she said: "I can unequivocally tell you that I had NO knowledge whatsoever to these allegations against Ms. Nunez-Acuna or the Buena Vista settlement from two years ago. I first learned of these allegations and the settlement on February 7, 2019 when we received a call from The Record."

The allegations and settlement were first reported last year on the blog of open government advocate John Paff. The Network obtained the complaint and settlement this week.

As the administrator of Buena Vista, Nunez-Acuna made multiple unwanted advances on the town's public works director at the time, Richard Calareso, according to the Feb. 7, 2017 complaint filed with the civil rights division of the Attorney General’s office.

The “unwelcomed direct physical contact” happened on Dec. 30, 2016, according to the complaint. Nunez-Acuna “asked him for a hug at least seven times,” the complaint reads, and she “chased after him and pushed her arm under his arm to make it appear as though the two were walking arm and arm.”

She also told Calareso, “Now that I bought you all your equipment I want a hug,” according to the complaint. When she attempted to hug him, the complaint said, Nunez-Acuna “forcibly pushed her breast against” Calareso “three times.”

On Feb. 13, 2017, a week after the complaint was filed, Buena Vista settled with Calareso for $25,000. The settlement did not cite the allegations against Nunez-Acuna, but said the agreement was part of a restructuring at the public works department. The agreement also voided any complaints Calareso had against the town. Calareso did not respond to a voice message seeking comment.

Even though Nunez-Acuna faced the allegation, the schools authority said that, "per township counsel, the allegations had 'absolutely no merit'" and the town determined she should remain on the job, authority spokeswoman S. Patricia Cabrera said in a statement.

But Cabrera said the authority has a "zero tolerance policy" against workplace discrimination and harassment and that "every worker in New Jersey – whether they are woman or a man – deserves to work in an environment where they are safe from harassment."

"Upon learning of the settlement, the SDA’s Office of the chief of staff has reviewed the settlement and accepted the resignation of Kenia Nunez-Acuna as of February 8, 2019," Cabrera said.

Delgado-Polanco recused herself from the decision, Cabrera said. Since Delgado-Polanco took control of the authority, she established an equal employment opportunity director as a resource to employees "to discuss allegations of discrimination or sexual harassment, and when appropriate to conduct confidential investigations of those allegations implicating the state policy," Cabrera said.

Buena Vista Mayor Chuck Chiarello and members of the township committee declined to comment beyond the circumstances of the settlement.

“No wrongdoing nor admission of any guilt was acknowledged by all parties. Irrespective of any allegations that may have been made by Mr. Calareso in his initial complaint, no adjudication of nor any findings were ever made by a judge or jury as to the truth of any such allegation,” the officials said in a joint statement Thursday night.