Woman Sues National Corporation For Sexual Harassment By A Division President

$500,000 — Woman Sues National Corporation for Sexual Harassment by a Division President —

Plaintiff was a woman involved in marketing at a corporation which had several divisions nationwide. She alleged she was sexually harassed by the president of the division where she worked, as well as by another of her supervisors. Alexis McKenna played a substantial role in this Plaintiff’s representation while she was at her prior law firm.

According to her allegations, one of her supervisors had engaged in a pattern of harassment of her that led to a hostile work environment. They had started out as friends, but then this supervisor crossed the line. The Plaintiff claimed he made comments to her about her legs and buttocks. He asked her to come over to his house for a glass of wine while his wife was out of town. He called her in the middle of the night in her hotel room when they were out of town for business and wanted to join her in her room. He lunged at her and tried to kiss her at a company party.

The Plaintiff claimed that she was first harassed by the division president at a company-sponsored event. That evening, she alleged, he made lewd comments to her about her appearance, repeatedly hugged and put his arm around her, and squeezed her buttocks.

After this event, the division president was promoted to vice president of the corporation, and relocated to the east coast. The plaintiff saw him again when she had to travel to the east coast for business. While there, she alleged, he harassed her again, including asking to go to her hotel room with her where he implied they would have sex.

Plaintiff made complaints to the company about the sexual harassment of each of these men.

The individual defendants denied any wrongdoing. The corporation claimed they conducted thorough investigations of all of Plaintiffs’ claims and treated the matter appropriately.

Through investigation and the discovery process, Ms. McKenna and her previous firm were able to find evidence that the company conducted a fairly quick investigation of the lower level supervisor and disciplined him. However, the higher up supervisor received very different treatment. Before Plaintiff made her complaints about the division president, several other women had also complained about inappropriate behavior on the part of the president based on the same company event where he has first harassed plaintiff. They complained before the division president was promoted. The investigation of this executive, based on the other women’s complaints, was stalled and perhaps never would have really taken place, plaintiff and her attorneys then alleged, until after plaintiff made her complaints and the company feared a lawsuit.

RESULT: Settlement for the plaintiffs, $500,000.

*Many of the cases that Winer, McKenna, Burritt & Tillis LLP, has settled are highly confidential. In order to provide consumers with an accurate list of settlements, we have accurately stated the amount of the settlement and the facts of the case, but we have changed the location of the cases and the industry of the companies we have sued to make the identification of the actual company impossible.