Detroit Marriott sued after employee alleges sexual assault
(CBS DETROIT) – A former employee of the Detroit Marriott at The Renaissance Center is suing the hotel for negligence after an alleged sexual assault.
The lawsuit, filed in Wayne County Circuit Court, claims a Dearborn woman was sexually assaulted by a Marriott supervisor.
The lawsuit names Marriott International, Detroit MHS, LLC, Detroit Hotel Services, Inc. and SODEXO Inc. as the defendants. It alleges negligence, gross negligence, direct negligence and violations of the Michigan Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act.
The lawsuit also claims the woman has suffered stress, humiliation, embarrassment, outrage, mental anguish and more.
According to the lawsuit, the woman was invited to the supervisor's room after her shift on Aug. 8, 2023. The supervisor allegedly told the woman that other employees would be there and prepared "an alcoholic beverage and food" for her.
The lawsuit alleges that the woman woke up disoriented in the supervisor's room the next morning and "discovered that her underwear was inside out, and her menstruation product was missing."
The supervisor allegedly made harmful and offensive contact with her body, according to the lawsuit.
The woman took a rape testing kit, which determined a DNA match with the Marriott supervisor. CBS News Detroit confirmed that the man has since been criminally charged and is scheduled to appear in court on Wednesday.
The lawsuit alleges the defendants made the woman's working conditions "so intolerable" that she had to quit.
The woman's attorney, Jon Marko, says the supervisor was flown by Marriott to different hotels across the country to provide training and supervision.
"He used that position as a method and an opportunity to take advantage of the young woman," Marko told CBS News Detroit.
He says his office, Marko Law Firm, will be looking for other women across the country who may have been abused by the supervisor.
The request for comment from Detroit Marriott has not been answered at the time this article was published.