SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) - A former employee of Lowe’s Home Improvement store in Sioux Falls is suing the retailer claiming it failed to discipline a male worker who groped her.
Vickie Mader filed a lawsuit in federal court accusing Lowe’s of discrimination, emotional distress and breach of contract, the Argus Leader reported.
In her lawsuit, Mader alleges that a male employee groped her at work in May 2017 and that she reported it the next day to an assistant manager who assured her action would be taken. She says the groping was captured on store surveillance video, but the assistant manager and a human resources manager disagreed about what it showed, with the human resources manager suggesting that the accused employee could have been putting out his hand in case Mader backed into him as he passed her.
Mader said she felt angry and humiliated and had to work with the other employee for nearly four more weeks.
“Plaintiff was constantly looking over her shoulder and felt creeped out,” the lawsuit states.
Mader said the human resources director told her that Lowe’s wouldn’t fire the man or change his hours, so she decided to quit because she couldn’t continue to work with him. She filed a complaint May 26, 2017, the same day she resigned.
Mader has “struggled with the fact that (the employee) got away with touching her and she lost her job for it,” the lawsuit asserts.
Lowe’s has not responded to the newspaper’s request for comment about the lawsuit.
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Information from: Argus Leader, http://www.argusleader.com
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