• 28
  • October
    2011

A former female employee of PetSmart sued the company for sexual harassment, as well as wrongful termination and allowing a sexually hostile working environment. The national chain of pet supply stores has approximately 1,200 locations, including many in California.

The lawsuit targets both the company itself and a store manager. The plaintiff asserts that she was first sexually harassed by a store manager at the location she was assigned to work, and sought a transfer to another store.

Once she was transferred to a second store, however, the manager at the second location allegedly also sexually harassed her. She says that she complained about the repeated abuse to the company. The company's response, according to her lawsuit, was not to remedy the harassment, but instead to subject her to retaliation for complaining, ultimately leading to her firing.

She worked at PetSmart for approximately five years, with the job title of pet care specialist. She was fired in July 2010, after starting at the company in October 2005.

The store manager at the first store was not named as a defendant in the lawsuit because his alleged harassment happened long ago enough that claims concerning it are barred by the statute of limitations. The facts about her treatment at the first store, however, are recited in the complaint to show that the sexual harassment by the second store manager was not an isolated incident. She claims that they were part of a pattern of tolerance by the company of sexual harassment of female employees by male store managers.

Remedies sought in the lawsuit include emotional distress damages, back pay, front pay (pay she would have earned in the future if not unjustly terminated), attorney's fees, and punitive damages.

Source: Press Connects, "PetSmart named in sex discrimination suit," My-Ly Nyugen, Oct. 14, 2011