Women File Sex Claim, Say Lap Dances Were Job Requirement
DETROIT (WWJ) - Royal Oak attorney Brian Thomas Dailey filed a sexual harassment lawsuit on behalf three women -- Kimberly Flynn, Amanda Huber and Cassandra Drew -- who worked for DMCare Express ambulance service.
The ambulance service includes staffing at Red Wings and Tigers games.
The trio said from August 2008 through 2011, three male supervisors exposed themselves; sexually assaulted them; made sexual advances toward them; demanded lap dances; and required female employees to show their breasts in exchange for promotion and favorable treatment in the workplace.
The lawsuit claims DMCare Express management personnel were informed of the abuse and did not report it or take preventative action. The women further allege DMCare Express placed this man and others in supervisory roles, allowed him to work with women alone, then concealed and ignored the women's sexual harassment complaints and discharged the women after asserting their rights.
Huber, an EMT, talked about being harassed on one of her shifts.
"That 12 hours was the longest I've experienced," Huber told WWJ Newsradio 950's Chrystal Knight. "Being stuck in a room alone with someone who wants nothing but to do whatever he can to you to enjoy himself ... your own supervisor not caring how you feel."
The suit also claims there is a series of text messages from a supervisor demanding lap dances, and video testimony from a supervisor confirming the "pervasive environment of sexual harassment."
"It literally just crushed me because I was working very had to climb the ladder and I loved my job, and I loved being out there in Detroit," said Flynn. "To know that my supervisors looked upon me as basically a piece of meat, it was absolutely humiliating," she said.
Two of the three women said they were fired after registering complaints with DMCare Management and one of the men accused was promoted. The third said she was medically disabled from further work at DMCare Express due to the resulting stress and strain of the harassment.
In a statement, DMCare Express said the accusations are false. The statement says, "DMCare Express has always had a zero tolerance policy against sexual harassment in the workplace. Once an allegation was reported, DMCare Express acted swiftly and consistent with its policy.
Contrary to the allegations, DMCare Express did not discipline or discharge any employee as a result of reporting sexual harassment; did not fail to act quickly or responsively once allegations were reported; does not foster a workplace where harassment of any kind is permitted; was never the site of any reported sexual assault."
