HOUSTON – The defendant in a former personal assistant’s sexual harassment lawsuit has requested that the case be dismissed and referred to arbitration.
Berry Y&V Fabricators entered a motion into Stefani Bambace’s suit late last month, asserting the plaintiff “freely and voluntarily entered into a contract by which she agreed to resolve all complaints of the nature asserted in (her) original petition through binding arbitration conducted by the American Arbitration Association.”
Bambace sued the company almost two months ago on allegations Danielle Berry, the wife of company president Lawrence Berry, subjected her to a “sexually charged and hostile work environment.”
According to the plaintiff, the business fired her after complaining about Danielle Berry.
The respondent’s 6-page motion argues that Bambace was terminated for “legitimate, non-discriminatory business reasons unrelated to any complaint made by the plaintiff.”
“No protected activity by the plaintiff was a motivating cause of the plaintiff’s termination,” the document states. “The plaintiff was dismissed from employment due to elimination of her position, which was no longer needed.”
The defendant adds that it “took reasonable care to prevent and correct promptly any sexually harassing behavior, and the plaintiff unreasonably failed to make prompt and full use of workplace processes and policies available to the plaintiff to prevent and correct any harms and difficulties of the type now alleged.”
Harris County 234th District Court Case No. 2018-27762