HOUSTON – A Harris County woman alleges she was subjected to a hostile working environment and eventually terminated after she found a sexually explicit video on a company computer.
Deborah J. Gilchrease filed a complaint on Feb. 28 in the Houston Division of the Southern District of Texas against A.P. Formulators LLC and Alan Palermo alleging age and gender discrimination.
According to the complaint, the plaintiff began her employment with A.P. Formulators in January 2016 as an inside sales representative. The suit states she worked in a small office with two computers and on April 5, 2017, her computer was malfunctioning and she went to use the other. She alleges the computer's memory was nearly full so she began going through old sales orders to remove them from memory. She alleges in the process she found a video of Palermo, the company's president, engaging in a sexual act.
She alleges that the following day, Palermo accused her of "snooping" and terminated her on June 2, 2017.
The plaintiff holds A.P. Formulators LLC and Palermo responsible because the defendants allegedly discriminated against her because of her age and gender and created a hostile work environment by leaving a sexually explicit video on a company computer.
The plaintiff requests a trial by jury and seeks actual, consequential and punitive damages, attorney fees, costs and such other legal or equitable relief. She is represented by Larry M. Champion in Houston.
Houston Division of the Southern District of Texas case number 4:18-cv-00640