Joe Gatto Accused of Inappropriate Behavior by Former Employee After Sexual Assault Denial

Joe Gatto has been accused of behaving inappropriately toward one of his former employees ... this just hours after denying sexual assault allegations that a different woman leveled against him.

People published a story Sunday ... citing an anonymous woman who claims she worked for Gatto while he was on "Impractical Jokers" -- and, she says he acted in a way that she describes as "sexual harassment."

This woman says she first met Gatto when she was 15 ... but, when she turned 18, his behavior toward her changed -- becoming much more flirtatious.

She claims Gatto would ask for back massages, invite her to his room to cuddle and allegedly asked frequent questions about her sex life.

Gatto would become frustrated when this woman refused to flirt back, she claims ... and would allegedly treat her rudely if she rejected his advances.

Worth noting ... People's source does not provide any physical proof to back up her allegations, and Gatto denied any allegations of harassing behavior to People.

Like we told you ... Gatto was accused of sexual assault by a user on TikTok in a now-deleted social media video that featured messages allegedly sent by the comedian.

Gatto denied all the claims to us in a statement ... saying he'd "used poor judgment" in the past and has therefore "violated the trust of the people" he loves ... but is confident anyone who knows him knows he "wouldn’t assault anyone."