PRINCETON – A woman is suing Little General Store after she claims her employment was wrongfully terminated.
Vicki Whitt was also named as a defendant in the suit.
On March 2, 2013, Crystal Burress was hired by Little General as a crew employee and in May 2013, she was promoted to shift manager and in 2014, to assistant store manager, according to a complaint filed in Mercer Circuit Court.
Burress claims shortly after beginning her employment with the defendant, she began suffering harassment and a hostile work environment that became progressively worse over time.
When Burress reported the harassment to Whitt, she laughed about it and ignored most of the reports, according to the suit.
Burress claims she also attempted to report the issues to Whitt’s supervisor, who did not take the complaints seriously and took no action.
On Feb. 18, Whitt made false allegations of Burress having inappropriate sexual contact with another employee in the walk-in freezer and Whitt threated to contact Burress’ husband to falsely report that the plaintiff was having a sexual relationship with another employee, according to the suit.
Burress claims Whitt would make unwelcomed remarks regarding the false allegations on several occasions when Burress’ husband would come to the store.
The defendants caused a hostile work environment and on March 11, Burress’ employment was terminated, according to the suit.
Burress claims her employment was terminated due to stealing, however, she had never stolen from the store.
Burress is seeking compensatory and punitive damages. She is being represented by Erika Klie Kolenich and Karl Kolenich of Klie Law Offices PLLC.
Mercer Circuit Court case number: 15-C-397