Groping, sex toys and lewd gifts: Feds accuse NC company of allowing sexual harassment
Christin Smith was warned about an “extremely flirtatious” supervisor when she was hired at a manufacturing plant in Gaston County three years ago, according to court filings.
But the federal agency that’s taken up her case said it wasn’t just flirting she experienced — it was sexual harassment.
A male supervisor gifted her underwear, ran his hands along her lower back and thighs, showed her his sex toys, and even asked her to use one on herself, an attorney representing Smith said in court documents filed last week. The company, Modern Polymers Inc., is accused of discriminating against Smith by allowing a culture of sexual harassment.
Smith’s allegations were included in a larger lawsuit filed last month by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, or EEOC. The federal agency is charged with safeguarding and enforcing anti-discrimination laws in the workplace.
“Employers have an obligation to protect their employees from all unlawful workplace harassment including that based on sex,” Melinda C. Dugas, regional attorney for the EEOC’s Charlotte District, said in a news release announcing the litigation. “When they refuse to do so, it is the EEOC’s responsibility to intercede and to enforce those laws.”
An attorney representing Smith did not immediately respond to McClatchy News’ request for comment on Tuesday, nor did lawyers and a representative for Modern Polymers.
The plastics company is based in Cherryville, a city of roughly 6,000 people an hour west of Charlotte. Manufacturing is one of the area’s largest industries, according to the city’s website.
Modern Polymers, established in 1970, is described online as a “family-owned and operated business with family values.” The company website lists employee retention as “one of the hallmarks of a closely-knit, family-oriented and run business.”
According to Smith’s complaint, she started working at Modern Polymers through a temporary staffing agency in March 2018. Smith was hired full time as a quality technician in June that year.
Unwanted gifts, touching
Around that time, Smith’s attorney said multiple coworkers and members of management warned her about a production supervisor who was “extremely flirtatious and had aggressively pursued female employees for dating and sexual relationships.” She did not directly report to him but was required to speak with him in the course of her work day, court documents state.
The supervisor began to leave Smith gifts and flowers at her desk shortly after she started full-time, her attorney said. By August 2018, he was asking her out repeatedly “despite knowing she was engaged to her fiance,” the complaint states.
He often ran his hands along Smith’s lower back when he walked by her and slapped her butt if she passed him on the stairwell, according to the lawsuit. Sometimes he’d ask to see something on her computer screen and then touch the inside of her thighs, Smith’s attorney said.
The complaint states the supervisor once gave her a gift bag with underwear inside.
“(Smith) refused to accept the inappropriate and harassing gesture and demanded his conduct stop,” her attorney said in the lawsuit.
Th supervisor is accused of making inappropriate comments about Smith’s appearance, including that he saw her underwear when she bent down to pick something up. Smith’s attorney said he took pictures of her leaving a room and then showed them to her. He also reportedly put candy and a teddy bear made of fake flowers in her car.
One day after work, the complaint states, he called Smith over to his car and showed her a bag of sex toys.
The supervisor was reportedly known for discussing his sex life, sex toys and pornography at work, Smith’s attorney said.
According to the lawsuit, Smith and another female coworker reported him in early 2019 but nothing was done. The EEOC said she ultimately resigned on April 1, 2019, citing a sexually hostile work environment.
A pattern of ‘unwelcome conduct’
Smith filed a charge of discrimination with the EEOC against her former employer on April 11, 2019. In a July 2020 letter, the agency determined there was “reasonable cause” for her complaint.
“The EEOC Determination found that the same male co-worker that had harassed (Smith) had engaged in similar unwelcome conduct toward other female employees based on their sex, and defendant knew or should have known of the sexually harassing behavior but failed to take prompt and effective action to stop it,” Smith’s attorney said.
In the eight months that followed, the EEOC said it attempted to resolve the allegations with Modern Polymers to no avail.
The agency subsequently filed suit on May 12 in the Western District of North Carolina and accused the company of discriminating against Smith and other female employees in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Smith’s complaint additionally makes claims for sex discrimination and a hostile work environment.
She is seeking more than $100,000 in damages.
