In the suit, filed March 15, [1993] in Los Angeles, former Wonder Years wardrobe assistant Monique Long, 32, claims that Savage and Hervey sexually harassed her during her 12 months with the series.. She is seekinking unspecified damamges.. Attorneys for the actors and the shows productions company, also named in the suit, heatedly deny all charges made by Long, who was fired from the show in October.. "It's fantasyland-these allegations are totally fabricated, and we're going to prove it in court," says Savage's lawyer, Howard L. Weitzman.. "She's a disgruntled employee.."

A tortured employee is Long's version.. Savage, her suit claims, repeatedly begged, "Oh, Monique, I'm so in love with you.. Please have an affair with me.." Long says Savage pestered her to go on dates, tried to hold her hand and once greeted her parents, who were visiting the set, as "my future in-laws.."

Hervey, according to Long's suit, was more aggressive-on one occasion grabbing her arms from behind and simulating intercorse.. It was only with thte assistance of male crew members, says Long, that she was released from his grasp.. Hervey also made suggestive remarks, Long says, including "I bet you're wild in bed" and "What's wroung with you..? Didn't you get any last night..?"

It was because of that constant harassment, she says, that she couldn't do her job properly and was fired.. (She recently worked as a costumer on the Arnold Schwarzeneggar adventure film Last Action Hero, to be released this summer..) However, one female crew member says that Long's sacking had nothing to do with sexual harassment: "She'd fall asleep, and we couldn't find her when it was time to shoot a scene.. Or she'd be in the bathroom, primping.. We had problems with her from the beginning.. She is not a team player.."

Long's attorney, Beverly Grant, says, "The idea of Monique being fired for poor job performance is ridiculous.." The problem, Grant says, is that, having tried unsuccessfully to address her grievances through proper channels, "Monique didn't know any other way to get these wrongs righted.." Her suit alleges that she even asked Dan Lauria, who plays Savage's stern father, Jack, to intercede on her behalf.. Lauria, the suit claims, answered, "Monique, you know [Fred] has been in love with you since you started with the show...you should be his first.." (Lauria has no comment..)

The Lawsuit has left Savage feeling "a little upset and confused," says Weitzman.. "But Fred's going to be fine.. Everybody on the set will tell you-no way did any of this take place.."

Savage's TV mom, actress Alley Mills, agrees.. "This lawsuit is beyond ridiculous," she says.. "Fred is the purest young man I've ever had the pleasure to know.." And state welfare worker Caryl Pine, who under California labor law was with Savage constantly on the set during the same months as the alleged incidents, says of the suit: "It's absurd.. If Fred said anything, 20 people would have heard it-he was miked most of the time.."

As for Hervey, Mills says, "He has a heart as big as the Empire State Building.. Sure, he's full of piss and vinegar, but he would never do anything to harm or humiliate a woman.." Hervey is "angry" about the charges, says his attorney, Joel Smith..

What's more, the mood has curdled on the set of the series, which is facing possible cancellation when it concludes its sixth season this month (final episodes are still being shot).. "We work together 14 hours a day, five days a week, and we're like a family," says a female member of the crew.. "Now we're not allowed to hug on the set because it coud be contrued as sexual harassment.. It's real sad.."

-Tom Gliatto
-Joyce Wagner in Los Angeles

So there you have it.. All you sick Wonder Years freaks who spend all day surfing the web for naked pictures of Danica McKellar, you can finally get to sleep at night, knowing that Fred Savage, although sued for sexual harassment, is not a rapist, like most of you..

Wonder Years Ring member site