CHARLESTON – A former Pilot Travel Center employee says was a victim of sexual harassment by her manager.
Zaina Assi filed her complaint in Kanawha Circuit Court against Pilot Travel Centers and Benjamin Hudnall.
According to the complaint, Assi worked at the Pilot location in Nitro. She was an assistant manager for less than a month when she was force off of the job on July 30, 2021. Before that, Assi was a customer. That’s when Hudnall offered her a job, promising certain hours and good pay.
“Assi did not realize that defendant Hudnall’s job offer was conditioned on a sexual relationship with him,” the complaint states.
On her first day of work, Assi said Hudnall told her he had just caught his wife having sex with the “dope dealer.” She says Hudnall also blared sexually graphic rap music from his office on an almost daily basis. She says he also frequently would make sexual comments about her, such as, “I’d like to bend her over so bad.”
She says female customers and other female employees informed her of Hudnall’s sexual comments about her, and she said other employees believed Assi received the position through sexual favors for Hudnall. She says he also watched her work with the store’s camera system.
As Hudnall continued to make sexual comments and propositions, Assi said customers joined in making such comments to her as well. Hudnall told her, “That’s just the industry, honey.”
On July 20, 2021, she says Hudnall showed another female employee a photo of his penis on his phone. He asked Assi if she wanted to see it, and she refused, according to the complaint. She says he then began retaliating against her.
On July 29, 2021, Hudnall told Assi he would have to fire either her or the female employee who saw the photo. The next day, Assi was asked her uniform size because “she was being demoted to a cashier position,” according to the complaint. That’s when she says she was forced off of the job.
Assi accuses the defendants of a hostile work environment, sexual harassment, retaliation and constructive discharge. She seeks compensatory damages for loss of dignity, embarrassment, humiliation, aggravation and emotional distress. She also seeks pre- and post-judgment interests, attorney fees, court costs and other relief.
She is being represented by Rodney A. Smith and M. Alex Urban of Rod Smith Law in Charleston. The case has been assigned to Circuit Judge Carrie Webster.
Kanawha Circuit Court case number 23-C-551
