An Arizona woman has filed suit against GoDaddy.com Inc., alleging the Scottsdale company failed to stop a co-worker from sexually harassing her and that it fired her when she complained.
Rachel R. Pearson filed the suit in U.S. District Court for Arizona. She seeks an unspecified amount for back pay, compensation for emotional pain and other losses, and punitive damages.
Go Daddy general counsel Christine Jones denied that Pearson was subjected to sexual harassment or retaliation and said the company intends to vigorously defend itself.
“Go Daddy takes all complaints of employee misconduct seriously. We thoroughly investigated Ms. Pearson’s allegations and could not substantiate them,” Jones said.
Pearson’s complaint says:
• The harassment by a co-worker started in March 2007. He would stare at Pearson’s breasts, comment on them, touch them and continue to touch them despite her repeated requests to stop.
• The co-worker also harassed other female employees and became angry and intimidating when Pearson reported him.
• Pearson reported the behavior twice to her supervisor in March and April 2007 but nothing was done.
• Pearson reported the behavior to the company’s human resources department in October 2007, which started the process to terminate her a week later.
Pearson’s complaint says she was consistently among the company’s top-performing salespeople. Her lawyer, Ronald Greenhalgh, said Pearson was a sales and support specialist who worked in Go Daddy’s Gilbert office at the time of her termination.
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission reviewed Pearson’s case and issued her a notice of right to sue in February. Federal anti-discrimination laws require plaintiffs to first file their charge with the EEOC, which can decide to pursue the case itself or allow plaintiffs to file their own lawsuits.
The EEOC previously filed suit against Go Daddy in U.S. District Court. In 2006, it won a $390,000 judgment for a man from Morocco who said the company wrongfully terminated him after he complained of discrimination based on religion and national origin. The judge later reduced the judgment to $241,708.
If you or a family member has been subjected to wrongful termination or employment discrimination, then please contact the Fort Worth Texas Wrongful Termination Attorney Dr. Shezad Malik. For a no obligation, free case analysis, please call 817-255-4001 or Contact Me Online.