CHARLESTON – Three current and former employees have filed lawsuits against a property management company, accusing a female supervisor of sexual harassment.
The complaints were filed March 23 against The Lynd Company. All three of the individual complaints named Crystal Lewis and Viola Martin as defendants as well.
In the first complaint filed by Craig Kitchen, he says he experienced multiple instances of sexual harassment at the hands of Lewis, who was his supervisor.
Kitchen – who worked for Lynd from August 3, 2021, until November 8, 2021, as a maintenance technician – said Lewis made comments to him such as telling him he was “pretty,” “good looking” and that he had a “nice smile.” He says Lewis also commented about Kitchen’s penis.
He said the harassment and sexually charged comments began on his first day of work.
During a meeting with Lewis and others, Kitchen says Lewis asked him if he was excited to soon have weight loss surgery performed. He said he was excited.
“Defendant Lewis then blurted out to all present, ‘Yea, I bet you haven’t seen that little d*ck in about 10 years,’” the complaint states.
Kitchen says the harassment occurred on the phone as well. He described a November 2 phone call with Lewis.
“When Mr. Kitchen told defendant Lewis that he was thinking about quitting,’” the complaint states, “Lewis informed Mr. Kitchen, ‘Craig, we love you. We want you to stay. You’re a great worker. And Linda could take her old a*s body and show you a few things.”
Linda Grice, a leasing agent with Lynd, was with Lewis during that phone call. She also filed a complaint against Lynd, Lewis and others.
That same evening, Lewis called Kitchen at home to tell him she had sent him a work order. He put the call on speaker.
“During the conversation, defendant Lewis repeatedly called Mr. Kitchen ‘honey’ and ‘baby,’” the complaint states. “Defendant Lewis’ inappropriate names commonly used in a sexual relationship caused turmoil between Mr. Kitchen and his fiancée.”
The following day, Kitchen says he reported Lewis’ sexual harassment to Martin, who was Lynd’s director of human resources. He asked to no longer have to report to Lewis.
The next day, Kitchen says he met with defendant Michael Sarisky, a regional manager for Lynd, in the parking lot of the Village Hills apartment complex.
“Defendant Sarisky asked Mr. Kitchen, ‘If the roles were reversed, what do you think would happen to you?’” the complaint states. “Mr. Kitchen replied that he believed he would be in jail or fired. Defendant Sarisky stated, ‘That’s right. You’d be fired.’”
Also on November 4, Kitchen says he was forced to attend a meeting in a small room with Lewis. He says Lewis repeatedly tried to communicate with him, making the situation “even more uncomfortable.”
“Because he was forced to attend this meeting with his harasser, Mr. Kitchen understood that defendant Lynd Properties would do nothing to protect him from defendant Lewis,” the complaint states. “Fearful of continued harassment and retaliation against him by the defendants, Mr. Kitchen had no choice but to constructively discharge himself.”
In her complaint, Grice also mentions the phone conversation in which Lewis made comments to Kitchen about the 67-year-old Grice, who still works for Lynd.
She also says the defendants retaliated against her, forced her work alongside her harasser and then moved her to another work location.
“Ms. Grice was shocked and offended that her supervisor, defendant Lewis, would refer to her as ‘old’ and insinuate that she would perform sexual acts with a coworker,” the complaint states. “Grice witnessed … Lewis touching another employee’s buttocks.”
That employee, Ashley Jordan, filed the third complaint.
Grice says she also reported Lewis to Martin in HR after the phone incident.
“Thank you for your feedback,” Martin responded, according to the complaint.
In March 2021, Grice says defendant Mike Boone, Lynd’s president of property management, passed her over for a leasing manager position even though she says she was more qualified than the 35-year-old person who was hired.
In the third complaint, leasing agent Jordan says Lewis repeatedly sexually harassed her by touching and smacking her buttocks and running her hands through Jordan’s hair unwelcomingly.
Jordan says she was on the job for about two weeks when the harassment began in October 2021.
“Jordan went to the filing cabinet and bent over,” the complaint states. “While Ms. Jordan was looking through the filing cabinet, defendant Lewis approached Ms. Jordan from behind and intentionally and unwelcomingly smacked Ms. Jordan’s buttocks.”
Later in the day, Jordan says she was talking to Grice and Lewis when Lewis told them, “I was so excited that Ashley knew what she was doing that I smacked her on her behind.”
A few weeks later, Jordan says Lewis smacked her buttocks again. After that, Jordan says she reported Lewis’ conduct to Martin in HR. She says the company did not conduct any investigation, and she says Lewis was not disciplined in any way.
Jordan says the harassment continued by Lewis rubbing her hands through Jordan’s hair and patting her on her back. She says Lewis also made sexual comments about a Lynd contractor, saying he was attractive and that she “often thinks about him while she is in the shower.”
Jordan also says she was retaliated against by being excluded from work announcements and having items placed in her work trash can that made her look unprofessional.
Jordan says she felt she no longer could work for Lynd, and she quit on January 12, 2022.
Kitchen accuses Lynd and Lewis of violating the West Virginia Human Rights Act with sexual harassment and a hostile work environment. He accuses Martin and Sarisky of aiding and abetting those violations. He accuses all of the defendants of retaliation and constructive discharge.
Grice accuses Lynd and Lewis of violating the WVHRA with sexual harassment, age discrimination and a hostile work environment, and she accuses Martin and Boone of aiding and abetting those violations. She accuses all of the defendants with age discrimination and retaliation.
Jordan also accuses Lynd and Lewis of violating the WVHRA with sexual harassment and a hostile work environment. She accuses Martin of aiding and abetting those violations, and she accuses all of the defendants with retaliation and constructive discharge.
Each of the plaintiffs seek compensatory damages for lost wages and benefits, damages for loss of dignity, embarrassment, humiliation, aggravation and emotional distress. They also seek punitive damages, attorney fees, court costs, pre- and post-judgment interest and other relief.
All three are being represented by Rod Smith and Alex Urban of Rod Smith Law in Charleston.
Kanawha Circuit Court case numbers 22-C-218 (Kitchen), 22-C-219 (Grice) and 22-C-220 (Jordan)
