Houston federal court to hear Harris Co. woman's gender-bias lawsuit

GALVESTON - A Harris County woman's lawsuit alleging gender-bias will be heard by a U.S. District Court.

Jacobs Field Services North America Inc. transferred Dawn Jackson's discrimination suit against it from Galveston County District Court to the Houston Division of the Southern District of Texas on March 5, a little more than a year after it was originally filed.

In court papers submitted Jan. 26, 2012, Jackson alleges the company fired her for “an incident at work that in actuality never occurred” yet the dismissal in question was in retaliation for the plaintiff’s complaints.

Jackson, who worked for the defendant from October 2007 to June 2010, claims she "was repeatedly and continuously harassed and discriminated against because of her gender."

She adds that she addressed her grievances “after many months of discriminatory treatment” on June 4, 2010, only for the company to terminate her four days later, the suit states.

The original petition was revised on March 1, 2012, to argue that the respondent violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Jacobs contends that the events which are the basis of Jackson's allegations, "if (they) occurred, (were) outside the course and scope of that individual’s employment, (were) not authorized or condoned by the defendant, and (were) undertaken without the knowledge or consent of the defendant" in a recently entered formal rebuttal.

Attorney Josef F. Buenker of The Buenker Law Firm in Houston is representing Jackson.

Attorney Dennis A. Clifford of Seyfarth Shaw LLP in Houston is representing Jacobs.

Case No. 3:13-CV-0061