WINFIELD – Another woman says she was sexually harassed and retaliated against while working at the Toyota Motor Manufacturing plant in Putnam County.
Hailey B. Donahue filed her complaint in Putnam Circuit Court against Peoplelink LLC, Global SQ LLC, Toyota Motor Manufacturing West Virginia Inc., Yuri Hager, Paul Anderson, Tommy Cathell and Gary Allen.
She says she was jointly employed by Peoplelink, Global SQ and Toyota. Peoplelink is a staffing agency, and Global SQ is an independent contractor of Toyota Motor Manufacturing West Virginia.
On March 24, Toyota filed a motion to dismiss the claim because the alleged unlawful acts by a former employee can’t be imputed to the company because his alleged actions were outside the scope of his employment.
“We are aware of the lawsuit and take these allegations seriously,” attorney Andrew Smith, who is representing Toyota, told The West Virginia Record. “When Mrs. Donahue’s concerns were brought to Toyota’s attention, Toyota took immediate action that ended the conduct in question. As this case is pending, we have no further comment at this time.”
According to her complaint, Donahue worked the assembly lines at the plant in Buffalo from 2018 until her constructive discharge in February 2021. While there, she says she experienced a “culture of lazy management and sexual harassment polluting the workplace.”
She says she was harassed during her first year there by her supervisor named Jeremy. That included him asking Donahue to join him and his wife for a threesome, which she refused. She says she notified Hager, who was her team leader at the time. But she says her complaints were disregarded.
Donahue also says Shane, her direct supervisor at the time, took another female employees phone and forwarded nude pictures of her to his own phone.
In November 2020, Donahue says she started working the HV line where Gary Allen was a team leader. She says he started following her and leering at her, made sexually motivated comments to her and repeatedly sexually harassed her.
Donahue also says her work area was cramped.
“Allen perceived this as an opportunity to prey on plaintiff,” the complaint states. “On several occasions, he unnecessarily entered plaintiff’s working area and while rubbing her arms, he pressed his genitals against her backside.
“During one of the sexual encounters, defendant Allen told plaintiff that she gave him a ‘stiffy.’ He then proceeded to tell plaintiff that he was going to the bathroom to ‘jerk off’ and think of her following by a wink at her.”
When she reported the incident to supervisors Hager and Anderson, she says they “just laughed it off.”
She says Allen asked her about her breast size and continued to stalk, leer and make lewd comments to her. She says he also called her “sexy momma,” “babe” and “hot stuff,” and he told her she should wear tight pants so “he could see it better.” He also told her he would like to “bang” her brains out and that he masturbated to her pictures on Facebook.
On December 18, 2020, Donahue says Allen rubbed his genitals against her backside again. As she turned around, he then pressed his genitals against her front. As she tried to move away, she says Allen pushed her against a machine and caused her pants to rip.
When she reported that incident and showed her supervisors her pants, she says they offered her duct tape so she could finish her shift. She asked to be moved away from working with Allen, but her requests were refused.
A short time later, she says Allen cornered her and forcefully grabbed her bra, causing it to unsnap and rip off of her chest.
“As plaintiff tried pushing defendant Allen away, he asked he to take his phone and take pictures of herself in the bathroom before she fixed her bra,” the complaint states. “He then asked plaintiff for a hug. She declined and was able to push herself away from defendant Allen.”
She again reported this incident to her supervisors and asked to be moved away from Allen because she feared for her safety. She took the following day off because she felt emotionally and physically ill.
When she returned to work, she was told she had to work the HV line with Allen. When she told her supervisor she didn’t want to work the line, the supervisor agreed to take her off of the line but told her she’d have to work it three times the following week.
“Plaintiff viewed her supervisor’s comment as retaliatory and punishment for her sexual harassment complaints,” the complaint states.
After returning to work from a brief leave related to COVID-19, Donahue says her supervisor Cathell contacted her about her job assignment. He told her she would be working “on that line tomorrow,” referring to the HV line with Allen.
She says she then told Cathell she wanted to talk to Toyota Human Resources. Cathell told her they’d call HR later and would not give her the number to call herself. When she later asked him about calling HR, Cathell responded by telling Donahue he needed to finish doing audits. He finally called HR, but he moved away from Donahue so she couldn’t hear the conversation. He then told her he’d take her to the HR office at 10 p.m.
When Cathell took her to HR later, Donahue says she met with a woman named Carol. But Carol wanted Cathell to stay. As Donahue told Carol her issues, she says she thinks Cathell was recording the conversation on his phone.
When she left the meeting, Donahue says Cathell stayed behind.
“She overheard defendant Cathell state, ‘I know the guy, he likes to joke a lot,’” the complaint states. “Plaintiff was demoralized after hearing defendant Cathell downplay the seriousness of her complaints to HR.”
According to a Toyota HR directive, Donahue says Cathell was supposed to walk with her at all times in the plant, walk her to her car and wait for her on the sidewalk when she arrived at work. He also was supposed to go with her near the end of her shift so she could move her car closer to the door, but he refused to do so.
The night she went to HR, Donahue also say she received an Instagram message from a coworker who worked with Allen. Donahue says she didn’t respond because she feared for her safety.
“What team leader was f*cking with you over here,” the message said. “If I guess will you say yes cause I’m pretty sure I know lol.”
When Cathell refused to walk her to her car after her shift, Donahue says she viewed that as retaliatory for her reporting to HR. She says she was then forced to constructively discharge herself from the job.
Donahue accuses all of the defendants of harassment, embarrassment and degradation. She accuses the three corporate defendants of sexual harassment and hostile work environment, constructive discharge and common law retaliatory discharge. She accuses all of the defendants except Allen of reprisal and retaliation. She accuses Hager, Anderson and Cathell of aiding and abetting. She accuses Toyota and Allen of intentional infliction of emotional distress and false imprisonment.
She says she has suffered loss of dignity, embarrassment, humiliation, aggravation and emotional distress in addition to monetary damages including lost wages and benefits. She also seeks punitive damages, pre- and post-judgment interest, court costs, attorney fees and other relief.
In Toyota’s motion to dismiss filed March 24, the company says the causes of action filed against it should be dismissed because they are premised on the alleged unlawful actions of Allen, who is now a former employee of Toyota. It also says discovery will show Toyota “promptly engaged in remedial action by terminating the employment of defendant Allen following an investigation into plaintiff’s report of sexual harassment.”
A similar case recently was dismissed by the plaintiff.
Donahue is being represented by Todd Bailess, Jodi Durham and Cory Lowe of Bailess Law Firm in Charleston. Toyota is being represented by Smith and Anders W. Lindberg of Steptoe & Johnson’s Huntington office and by Terry D. Johnson of Morgan Lewis & Bockius of Princeton, N.J.
Putnam Circuit Court case number 22-C-15
