Media company GDS International sued for sex and religious discrimination

Lobna Abdelrehim, a 26-year-old Egyptian-American employee at GDS International, has filed a lawsuit against the media company alleging gender and religious discrimination and for retaliation after she objected to the alleged workplace discrimination.

Lobna Abdelrehim

Abdelrehim’s lawsuit states that she has been subjected to an “overtly and disturbing sexually hostile work environment” at GDS International’s Wall Street offices. The complaint describes a workplace that is “rife with unwelcome sex-based bodily contact, such as hugs, patting, and face and forehead kissing.”

Abdelrehim alleges that sexually inappropriate company-wide emails referring to topics such as “MILFs” were regularly distributed.  In addition, her lawsuit claims that she and other saleswomen were given “overtly sexist and demeaning sales propaganda, exhorting [them] to use their feminine wiles as a sale closing technique.” 

For example, one company memo was entitled “Using your SEX to Sell and the Boulevard to Bombshell Bitchiness,” which included tips for female employees to “flirt to get what [you] want” and how female employees “can get away with being aggressive because its sexy.”

Abdelrehim, a Muslim, also claims that religious discrimination against Muslims was common at GDS International.  For example, emails were circulated among employees “depicting men in Muslim garb as raging homicidal terrorists.”

After Abdelrehim complained to the HR manager about the hostile work environment, she alleges that company management “made no attempt to credibly investigate, let alone redress,” her complaints.  Instead, she claims that she was retaliated against for having complained by being demoted shortly afterwards, and she was told that she would be fired if she didn’t achieve an extremely high and “unrealistic” sales quota.

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Virginia law firm sued for discrimination and sexual harassment following “cucumber incident”

A Vietnamese former employee at Williams Mullen, a large law firm based in Richmond, Virginia, has filed a lawsuit in Federal Court against the firm, accusing it of discrimination and sexual harassment.

The lawsuit states that Robert Eicher, a partner at Williams Mullen, “repeatedly engaged in inappropriate sexual behaviors and made ethnic slurs.  Shortly after (Hanh Nguyen) Allgood’s hire, Eicher approached Allgood in her cubicle, introduced himself and asked if she was from Viet Nam. When Allgood responded in the affirmative, he then gestured toward her genital area and asked whether her vagina was horizontal or vertical.”

Robert Eicher

In what the lawsuit refers to as the “cucumber incident,” Eicher allegedly put a cucumber in his pants pocket and then hugged and pressed the cucumber up against Allgood’s thigh desipte her attempts to pull away from him.  Allgood complained to management and other employees, several of whom told her that they were also victims of the cucumber incident.

The complaint states that Eicher “often walked around the firm dressed as a doctor showing his gloves and asking female staff if they wanted to be ‘examined.’  Eicher also had several sexual relationships with employees and publicly described his sexual encounters with them.”

Douglas Nabhan, another Williams Mullen partner, often made racially derogatory comments about Allgood’s meals insinuating that she prepared her food with dog and cat meat.  Nabhan also referred to Allgood’s ex-husband as “the wet back” because he is Hispanic.

Douglas Nabhan

Allgood claims that no action was taken by the firm to address her complaints of sexual harassment.  As a result, the sexually hostile work environment allegedly became worse for Allgood.  Moreover, the firm allegedly carried out a campaign of retaliation against Allgood as a result of her complaints, and she was ultimately fired in March 2007.

This is not the first workplace bullying lawsuit that was filed by employees against Williams Mullen.  Last year, seven former and current employees filed discrimination complaints with the EEOC claiming a hostile work environment.

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Black employees file discrimination lawsuit against Harbor UCLA Medical Center

Four African-American employees have filed an employment discrimination lawsuit against Harbor UCLA Medical Center.  The employees, Zena Branson, Laverne Geh, Vickie Moore and Brenda Lee-Richardson, allege that their boss, Candyce Gray, subjected them to a hostile work environment where they suffered from harassment and were discriminated against because of their race.

The lawsuit alleges that Gray referred to African-American employees as “those people,” mocked their speech, and called them derogatory terms such as”lazy” and “uneducated.”  Candyce Gray allegedly repeatedly slammed doors in the plaintiffs’ faces and threw objects at them.

Under Candyce Gray’s supervision, other employees would refer to the African-American employees as “monkeys” and would tell them to “go back to their cages.”  Management allegedly did nothing to stop this harassment.

The lawsuit also alleges that the Harbor UCLA Medical Center disciplined African-American employees without cause, gave them lower scores on their performance evaluations, and hid promotional opportunities from black employees.

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Administaff and Conn-X sued by EEOC for anti-Semitic workplace bullying

The EEOC filed a lawsuit against staffing company Administaff, Inc. and Conn-X, LLC, a cable service provider in Baltimore, for subjecting Jewish employees to religious discrimination and workplace bullying.

The lawsuit claims that the two companies subjected Scott Jacobson and Joey Jacobson, who are brothers, to physical and verbal harassment and a hostile work environment because of their religion, Judaism. The victims claim that from September 2005 and continuing for several years, they were called “dirty Jew,” “dumb Jew,” and other anti-Semitic slurs by managers and coworkers.

The physical harassment included an incident in which Scott Jacobson’s work vehicle was defaced with a swastika and an incident in which he was forced into a trash dumpster for the amusement of managers, who observed the entire incident on a work surveillance camera. 

“The harassment here was cruel and callous,” said Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Acting Chairman Stuart J. Ishimaru. “The use of the swastika is an especially egregious and provocative act, and the anti-Semitic epithets and physical violence alleged here are also outrageous. The EEOC will act, and act forcefully, to rectify this kind of workplace abuse.”

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North Pole councilwoman resigns amid hostile work environment complaints

The Councilwoman of North Pole City in Alaska, Victoria Thompson, announced her resignation after a number of employees complained that she created a hostile work environment at City Hall. 

Thompson apparently resigned in order to protect the municipality from potential discrimination and harassment lawsuits from the complaintants, who claimed that Thompson often made inappropriate comments to employees, pounded her fists on tables, and spread rumors around the workplace.

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Former VP sues Anheuser-Busch for sex discrimination

Francine Katz, a former high profile vice president of communications and consumer affairs at Anheuser-Busch, has filed a sex discrimination lawsuit against the beer company.

Anheuser-Busch Brewery, St. Lewis

Katz alleges that Anheuser-Busch maintained a male-dominated “locker room” work environment and culture that “adversely impacts women” and that pays women lower salaries and offers them fewer opportunities in top jobs.

Katz alleges she was paid less than half of what her male predecessor, John Jacob, had been making in the same position.

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Boss at Bath and Body Works accused of religious discrimination

A former sales manager at Bath and Body Works has filed a religious discrimination lawsuit against the retailer for firing her on the basis of her religious beliefs.

The sales manager, who is a member of the Wiccan religion, had asked her boss, Sandra Scibelli, for time off so that she could celebrate the Wiccan new year religious holiday.

Scibelli told the sales manager, “That is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard….you will ned a new career in your new year.  I will be damned if I have a devil-worshipper on my team.”

The sales manager was fired on November 2008 after she returned from her holiday vacation.  She is suing Bath and Body Works for lost wages and punitive damages for religious discrimination.

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Bad bosses cost South Gate city taxpayers $18 million in workplace discrimination lawsuit

The city of South Gate has agreed to pay $18 million to settle lawsuits filed by a group of sixteen police officers who said they faced racially motivated discrimination, harassment, and retaliation on the job.

The police officers alleged that they were subjected to racial slurs and false internal affairs investigations, were unfairly disciplined and passed up for promotions.

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EEOC files lawsuit against Sonic Drive-In for sexual harassment and retaliation

The EEOC filed a lawsuit against Sonic Drive-In of Los Lunas, Ltd., and B&B Consultants, Inc., doing business as Sonic Drive-In in Los Lunas, N.M., for not stopping a Sonic supervisor from subjecting female employees to sexual harassment and retaliating against the women who complained about the hostile work environment.

The EEOC lawsuit alleges that a number of female employees were forced to endure pervasive sexual comments and innuendo and unwelcome touching of bodies.  The lawsuit claims that the ongoing harassment and retaliation caused several women to leave their jobs at Sonic Drive-In.

“Our investigation revealed that a managerial supervisor was permitted to harass these women in the workplace and Sonic did not act promptly to provide corrective relief.” said EEOC Phoenix Acting District Director Rayford Irvin. “Employers have an important responsibility to protect their employees from harassment and retaliation in the workplace.”

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Raiders coach Tom Cable could be arrested for punching assistant coach

Oakland Raiders coach Tom Cable might soon be arrested for allegedly punching assistant coach Randy Hanson on August 5 while the Raiders were in training camp.  Hanson suffered a broken jaw from the attack.

Cable could also face a suspension from the NFL for violating the personal conduct policy if he is arrested.  We wonder why this bully boss wasn’t fired immediately following the assault.  Physical violence should not be tolerated in the workplace.

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