A male worker at a Kentucky apartment complex repeatedly sexually harassed a female employee and threatened to torture her after she complained to supervisors, the federal government has charged in a lawsuit.
The woman, according to the lawsuit, quit her job because she feared for her safety and the safety of her family.
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The Herald-Leader is not identifying the woman because of very specific threats of violence directed at the woman and her family as outlined in the lawsuit, said Richard Green, the newspaperâs executive editor.
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) filed the complaint on July 26 in federal court in Lexington against GEM Management LLC, which operates the apartment complex in Stanford.
The complaint alleges the company failed to protect the female employee from sexual harassment and subjected her to a hostile work environment based on her sex.
Tyler Reynolds, and attorney for GEM Management, said the company âdenies the allegations in the EEOCâs lawsuit and any insinuation of wrongdoing and plans to vigorously defend this claim.â
GEMâs site says it provides management services at more than 250 apartment complexes in the southeastern U.S., including 11 in Kentucky.
The lawsuit does not include the name of the Stanford facility, but the company site identifies it as the Oakview Apartments.
According to the complaint, GEM hired the female employee in April 2022 as a manager at the Stanford apartments.
About six months later, a male maintenance worker started harassing her, propositioning her for sex, asking about her sexual activity, saying he was âlonely and needed his needs met,â and using vulgar language with her, according to the complaint.
The complaint does not identify the maintenance worker by name.
The man made the apartment manager feel physically intimidated, hanging around her in the office and telling her he kept a gun in his truck and watched her, the lawsuit says.
The woman told the man his conduct was unwelcome, but he didnât stop.
She complained to her supervisor and asked to change her schedule so she wouldnât be around the man at work, but didnât know her supervisor was related to the maintenance worker, according to the lawsuit.
The company let the manager to change her schedule for about two weeks, but then put her back on the same schedule and directed her to keep working with the alleged harasser, who kept making sexual requests and making her feel intimidated.
The man subjected the apartment manager to sexually explicit comments or physically intimidating behavior almost every day she worked from October 2022 to April 2023, the lawsuit says.
Among other things, the man allegedly told the woman he would use a silencer on his gun and said she wouldnât see him coming.
The apartment manager continued complaining to her supervisor, and also received complaints from tenants who reported âthreatening and concerning behaviorâ about the maintenance worker, but GEM Management didnât take any action against the harasser or protect her, the lawsuit charges.
In April 2023, the managerâs supervisor told her to go to an empty apartment with the maintenance man even though the supervisor knew about her repeated complaints that the man had harassed her.
Inside the apartment, the main cornered the woman and said he knew about her complaints about him.
The man threatened âthat he would find her, shoot her, and torture her if her complaints impacted his employment or his marriage,â the federal lawsuit says.
The manager immediately left the apartment and quit the next day.
She told other managers she didnât want to quit, but that the harasser had learned of her complaints and made statements that caused her to fear for her safety, according to the lawsuit.
The EEOC considers the managerâs decision to quit as a âconstructive discharge,â meaning GEM Management created a work environment that effectively forced her to leave the job.
The man allegedly made threatening telephone calls to the woman even after she left. She complained to company managers but did not receive a response, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit seeks an injunction barring GEM Management from violating the federal Civil Rights Act and requiring the company to put policies in place to provide equal employment opportunities for women.
It also seeks back pay for the manager and an unspecified amount of money for the emotional pain and humiliation she suffered, and damages to punish Gem Management for its âmalicious and recklessâ conduct.
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