The Armstrong Law Firm Files A Sexual Harassment Lawsuit Against Freedom Financial Network And Its Division Company, Freedom Debt Relief
November 2, 2009 Freedom Debt Relief’s Vice President, Scott Dennis, accused of frequently making unlawful and offensive sexual comments and engaging in illegal sexual conduct. Online PR News – 02-November-2009 – The Armstrong Law Firm has filed a sexual harassment lawsuit (San Mateo County Superior Court, Case No. CIV 489171) on behalf of a Freedom Debt Relief sales coordinator who claims she was subjected to a hostile work environment by her employer and the company’s Vice President, which condoned sexually harassing comments and behavior, negligently employed those accused of sexually harassing conduct, and caused the termination of the employee due to intolerable working conditions. The plaintiff accuses Freedom Debt Relief’s Vice President, Scott Dennis, of frequently making unlawful and offensive sexual comments and engaging in illegal sexual conduct. Throughout her employment the plaintiff maintains in the complaint that Dennis made explicit sexual comments in her presence regarding women’s anatomy such as their breasts and buttocks, simulated having sex with women by thrusting his hips back and forth and pretending to slap the woman’s behind and simulated other sexual acts in the workplace. The lawsuit against Dennis, who also serves as VP of Sales for Freedom Financial Network, also claims that he confided to the plaintiff that he had seen a sex tape of two other Freedom Financial employees while stating that he, Scott Dennis, believed everyone in the business world was either a "pimp or ho". The plaintiff also alleges in her lawsuit that Freedom Financial Debt Relief and its parent company; Freedom Financial Network did not have an adequate sexual harassment policy and did not provide adequate sexual harassment training to its employees and managers. "By not adequately investigating the complaints of my client and by not taking steps to stop the sexual harassment, Freedom Debt Relief and Freedom Financial Network created a work environment that tolerated and sanctioned this type of illegal activity," said Kelly Armstrong, of The Armstrong Law Firm. As an example, there have been prior sexual harassment allegations against Dennis that resulted in no known disciplinary action, sexual harassment training or even a warning about his conduct. This fact places the company at significant risk of liability for damages by continuing to employ an officer of the company with prior sexual complaints against him. The work environment was such that the complaint states that Scott Dennis participated in the sending of a daily e-mail among the male sales employees ranking and discussing the "hottest" women in the office, and failing to cease such conduct after the plaintiff became aware of the e-mails and complained. The lawsuit claims that when another Freedom Debt Relief employee made a complaint against Scott Dennis, Dennis instructed the plaintiff to lie to investigators. The plaintiff reported the action to the company's Human Resources Department which took no action. The complaint also alleges that Vice President Scott Dennis had relationships with at least two subordinate employees despite the company's no dating policy. In short, he treated the company as his sexual playground where he felt free to act as part of a good ole boy network without repercussion. Freedom Financial Network provides consumer debt resolution services through its Freedom Debt Relief and Freedom Tax Relief divisions and was founded by Stanford Business School graduates Andrew Housser and Brad Stroh. In a lawsuit filed a year ago, The Consumer and Environmental Unit of the District Attorney’s Office joined with the California Department of Corporation to sue Freedom Debt Relief Freedom Financial Network and company owners Andrew Housser and Brad Stroh. The lawsuit filed in San Mateo County Superior Court claims the defendants engaged in unlawful business practices, including making false or misleading statements to consumers via the Internet and telephone to induce them to buy debt reduction services. The suit also claims the company violated the state financial code by operating without a business license from the Department of Corporation. About The Armstrong Law Firm The Armstrong Law Firm practices exclusively in the area of employment law and handles all types of employment law matters including sexual discrimination and racial discrimination as well as discrimination based on age, religion, and disability. Our lawyers stand up for persons who face abusive workplace conditions such as sexual harassment, racial harassment, and workplace retaliation. The Armstrong Law Firm has handled several cases which received widespread exposure in the media, including a $20 million whistleblower case and a $75 million age discrimination lawsuit. California Pizza Kitchen Charged With Sexual Harassment And Pregnancy Discrimination In A Lawsuit Filed By The Armstrong Law Firm
Thursday, January 24, 2008 The Armstrong Law Firm files a lawsuit against California Pizza Kitchen on behalf of a former employee who claims she was subjected to sexual harassment. Online PR News - 29-October-2009 - SAN FRANCISCO, CA -- October 29, 2009 -- California Pizza Kitchen has been sued in Santa Clara County Superior Court (Case #109CV155965) by The Armstrong Law Firm, representing a former employee who claims she was subjected to sexual harassment by her supervisor then retaliated against when she complained to management and discriminated against for being pregnant. The lawsuit names California Pizza Kitchen Supervisor Andy Lee (Palo Alto restaurant) as the individual who engaged in sexually abusive and harassing behavior. The complaint states that Lee had informed the plaintiff that he had prior sexual harassment complaints filed against him. "This tells me that either California Pizza Kitchen does not care about protecting its employees or is unfamiliar with sexual harassment law," "It's outrageous that California Pizza Kitchen would not take sexual harassment complaints by its female employees seriously, especially when the harasser is a manager and multiple witnesses confirm the sexual harassment." said Kelly Armstrong, The Armstrong Law Firm. "This tells me that either California Pizza Kitchen does not care about protecting its employees or is unfamiliar with sexual harassment law," added Armstrong. The complaint filed states that the plaintiff was subjected to sexually harassing behavior by Lee almost immediately upon being hired and that California Pizza Kitchen failed to take action to stop the abusive behavior when they were notified of the problem. Instead, the plaintiff states that she was subjected to illegal retaliation for reporting the sexual harassment. "It appears California Pizza Kitchen did not have an adequate sexual harassment policy and did not provide adequate sexual harassment training with respect to its employees and managers," stated Armstrong. The problem was made worse when the plaintiff notified California Pizza Kitchen that she was pregnant. She then received false performance reports, was targeted for wrongful termination and was required to perform heavy lifting and strenuous labor which required hospitalization in one instance. "California Pizza Kitchen needs to take immediate action to make the workplace safe for its young female employees and to not place the health of pregnant employees at risk with retaliatory actions," said Armstrong. About The Armstrong Law Firm Former salesmen sue Concord BMW, claiming discrimination
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white sales people discriminated against minority customers by lowballing on trade-ins, offered higher interest rates to minorities compared with white customers, and encouraged white customers to take cars for long test drives when minorities were only allowed to go around the block.
"I put a lot of time and energy into getting a new career going, and after I was screamed at and mistreated, that affected me deeply," said Aguilar, a married Livermore father of three.
According to the suit filed, Juric made comments like "Why are you spending time with those Mexicans? You have to learn to notice their shoes and clothes."
The suit says he also once disparaged a Latino customer who pulled into the lot in a Lamborghini, saying "These people, not even money is going to give them class."
Avila told the Times that soon after starting the job, his bosses congratulated him on his sales performance. Then three months later, they let him go, Avila said.
Salazar said he sold Land Rovers and Jaguars before moving to Concord BMW as a step up.
One day, he was standing on the showroom dressed in a suit, but with a pen behind his ear. In the lawsuit, it is claimed that Juric said to him, "You look like a low-class Mexican."
The men claim they complained about the behavior to the dealership's human resources department, but nothing was done. All of the plaintiffs made between $67,000 and $92,000 in their previous sales jobs, and said they earned top marks throughout their careers.
Attorney Kelly Armstrong said the men were let go throughout a two-month span.
The men are suing for lost wages and punitive damages associated with the harassment, discrimination and emotional distress claims.
The dealership has 30 days to respond to the claim.
Reach Tanya Rose at trose@bayareanewsgroup.com.
San Francisco Chronicle
John Burton faces sexual harassment suit
Demian Bulwa, Chronicle Staff Writer
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Former state Senate leader John Burton was sued Wednesday for $10 million by the executive director of his San Francisco charitable foundation, who claims he sexually harassed her by swearing at her and making lewd and suggestive comments on an almost daily basis.
Burton's attorney called the lawsuit, filed in San Francisco Superior Court, a "shakedown" and predicted that Burton's "character and reputation will win out at the end of the day."
During a 35-year legislative career in which he rose to become California's second-most-powerful politician, Burton became well known for his mouth. A 2004 Chronicle article about the ex-bartender described him as "visceral, irascible, occasionally avuncular and routinely profane."
Kathleen Driscoll, a 48-year-old San Francisco resident now on stress-related medical leave from the John Burton Foundation, said in her lawsuit that Burton used more than salty language.
Driscoll said the former Democratic lawmaker repeatedly remarked on her choice of underwear and the appearance of her breasts, often mimicked masturbation in her presence and told her on roughly 20 occasions, "I had a dream about you last night," while raising his eyebrows in a suggestive manner.
At a news conference Wednesday, Driscoll's attorney played a recorded voice message in which a man she identified as Burton told Driscoll, "When you drop stuff off, I mean, stop in, will you? I'm not getting laid under the f- table."
Driscoll said she had filed suit after unsuccessfully complaining about Burton's behavior to the 75-year-old former lawmaker himself and to the foundation's personnel department.
"My whole life has been turned around, and I did nothing wrong," Driscoll said. "He bullied me and sexually harassed me. It's scary because he's powerful, and he told me that every day."
Burton's attorney, Susan Rubenstein, said that the allegations were false and that Burton, who left the state Legislature in 2005 because of term limits, had never before been accused of sexual harassment.
"This is a man who spent nearly a half century of his life in public service," Rubenstein said. "If he was a sexual harasser or a sexual predator, I think the press would have discovered that by now."
Several friends and former colleagues of Burton jumped to his defense, including state Democratic Party chairman Art Torres, who called Burton a champion of women's rights.
"Anybody who used that colorful language for 45 years - I just can't imagine anyone would take him seriously," Torres said. "That's what he's like. He's old-school, and he means nothing by it."
Driscoll's attorney, Kelly Armstrong, said, "In terms of him saying, 'Your nipples are erect,' that goes way beyond salty, good-old-boy language."
Driscoll said she had previously worked as a donor relations officer at the San Francisco Foundation and as a director of development at UCSF. She said she has 12 years of experience with charities.
According to her complaint, Burton hired her as executive director in August 2006 and began to harass her the next month. Armstrong said the alleged abuse escalated and was not a "quid pro quo situation" in which demotion or promotion were at stake, but "more of a hostile work environment."
Among other complaints, Driscoll said Burton took her to a movie after asking her to meet him to work on the weekend; told her she was "probably wild sexually like all Catholic girls"; and introduced Driscoll to business associates as a "thong model."
Burton founded the John Burton Foundation for Children Without Homes in 2004 and is now its chairman. The charity is "dedicated to improving the quality of life for California's homeless children and developing policy solutions to prevent homelessness," according to its Web site.
Burton was elected to the state Assembly in 1964 and to the U.S. House of Representatives a decade later. In 1982, he left Congress because of a cocaine addiction that he later overcame.
He returned to the Assembly in 1988 and was elected to the state Senate in 1996. Two years later, he was unanimously elected as the Senate's president pro tem.
E-mail Demian Bulwa at dbulwa@sfchronicle.com.
(This article appeared on page B - 3 of the San Francisco Chronicle)
San Francisco Daily Journal
Donna Domino, Daily Journal Staff Writer
February 16, 2006
Marriott International is the target of two employee lawsuits, one accusing the chain of violating San Francisco minimum-wage law and the other of discriminating against older sales managers seeking promotions ... Marriott is also the subject of a discrimination suit filed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco, an expansion of a case originally filed in 2004 by sales managers in Newport Beach. The three managers are in their 60's and said they were denied promotions by the same executive Rick Owen, the company's Western vice president, in favor of younger applicants. Roger-Vasselin v. Marriott International, CV-04027.
Plaintiff Victoria Roger-Vasselin, of San Francisco, 63, who works as a regional membership executive at the Ritz-Carlton in San Francisco, said Owen told her when she sought a management position in Arizona in 2000 that "you can't take that position, it takes a lot of energy to run a team of that size. Someone younger would be good for that position - not you." He also advised her that "complacency comes with age," according to the suit.
Another plaintiff, Kenneth Arrick, a former Newport Beach sales executive, was 64 when he says Owen put him on a "do not promote" list and said he was ostracized when he complained.
Richard Kittner, a former Newport Beach sales executive, was 60 when he was told by Owen that older workers should stay settled and not move around too much" when he applied for position in Palm Desert, according to the suit. Owen also told him that older workers "complain more and are difficult to manage," the suit said.
"I think Marriott has a pattern and practice of widespread discrimination of all different kinds of employees as evidenced in the two simultaneous suits." said plaintiff's attorney Kelly Armstrong of San Francisco's Armstrong law firm.
Trial has been set for June.
Orlando Sentinel
Jerry W. Jackson | Sentinel Staff Writer
Posted October 7, 2005
Three Marriott time-share salespeople who say they were passed over for promotions and harassed because of their age are battling the company in federal court in San Francisco.
Kelly Armstrong, a lawyer representing the employees -- two of whom no longer work for Marriott -- said Thursday they will seek at least $75 million in damages in the age-discrimination case.
If enough current or former Marriott workers come forward with similar claims, Armstrong said, the suit would be re-filed to seek class-action status.
"This is a call to arms," Armstrong said during a telephone conference about the case, which was filed about a year ago but re-filed with amendments on Thursday. "What Marriott did was wrong, and we want to send a message."
John Wolf, a spokesman for Marriott International, said: "We believe the case has no merit." The company's time-share division, Marriott Vacation Club, is based in Orlando.
The employees -- all older than 60 -- allege in the lawsuit that their efforts to be promoted were rebuffed and they were subjected to age-related jokes or comments by a younger supervisor. "Younger, lesser qualified applicants were repeatedly chosen for promotions," the suit contends, and the supervisor made it clear he preferred, "young, hip, good looking" employees.
"I couldn't sleep at night," said former Marriott employee Richard Kittner, now 61 and living in Orange County, Calif. He said he was forced to leave the company when he filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
Armstrong said the two other plaintiffs, Victoria Roger-Vasselin, 63, of San Francisco, and Kenneth Arrick, 65, of Scottsdale, Ariz., also were "retaliated" against when they complained about their treatment.
Armstrong said that, while it is not illegal for a company to promote or show a preference for employees who are considered "hip" or "good looking," those preferences constituted "part of a pattern" of discrimination in this case. She said the supervisor named as a defendant is no longer western regional vice president of Marriott Vacation Club International but holds a similar position with the Ritz Carlton Club in California.
Reuters
Marriott sued for age discrimination
By Deena Beasley
Thursday, October 6, 2005
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Three workers in their 60s on Thursday filed suit against Marriott International Inc. alleging that they were passed over for promotion at the hotel operator's timeshare subsidiaries in favor of "young, hip, good-looking" people.
"These are all long-time sales executives who were repeatedly denied promotions due to their age," said Kelly Armstrong, the attorney representing the plaintiffs.
She described the age discrimination suit filed in federal court in San Francisco as "a call to arms for all older employees at Marriott to join in a possible class action."
The three sales executives worked for Marriott Vacation Club International and Ritz-Carlton Club. The suit also names as a defendant Rick Owen, western regional vice president for Marriott's timeshare operations, based in Newport Beach, California.
Marriott and Owen could not be immediately reached for comment.
One plaintiff, Victoria Roger-Vasselin, still works in San Francisco for the Ritz Carlton timeshare unit.
"I was intimidated, embarrassed, and emotionally distraught," by Owen's treatment and comments, she said.
Another plaintiff, Kenneth Arrick, has been out on psychological disability leave since February.
He said Marriott's human resources department declined to take action after he complained that Owen had passed him over for promotion in favor of younger, less-qualified candidates.
Richard Kittner was fired by Marriott in 2002 after he filed a federal complaint when a promised sales director job in Aspen, Colorado was given to someone else.
"I was told my superiors would not talk to me, and don't talk to them," he said.
Kelly estimated monetary, emotional distress and punitive damages for the lawsuit at $75 million. "That's the kind of damage awarded needed to send a message to a large corporation like this," she said.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in March that workers 40 or older can sue their employers for practices that favor younger workers, even if there was no intentional bias.
San Francisco Chronicle
Ex-manager of sales sues Deutsche Bank
Whistle-blower says he was fired for talking to SEC
Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer
Saturday, May 21, 2005
A former $500,000-a-year sales manager for Deutsche Bank in San Francisco has filed a $20 million whistle-blower suit claiming he was fired, and blacklisted in the industry, for refusing to lie to federal regulators about the giant financial company's trading practices.
The suit by Lawrence Romaneck, filed Thursday in San Francisco Superior Court, accuses company managers of singling him out to "take the fall for market timing,'' a practice in which he said he never participated.
Market timing is the rapid buying and selling of mutual fund shares to take advantage of price fluctuations. It is not illegal but can hurt long-term shareholders and is therefore restricted by most mutual fund companies.
The Securities and Exchange Commission, accused by congressional critics of ignoring the problem for too long, has recently sued and won large settlements from fund companies for secretly allowing favored clients to engage in market timing.
Romaneck, 56, a 25-year securities industry veteran, was Deutsche Bank's Western regional sales director until he was fired last May. He said in his suit that he learned of market-timing violations in late 2003 and provided documents to the SEC.
After he was subpoenaed in March 2004 to testify before the SEC and the New York attorney general's office, Deutsche Bank tried to get him to limit his testimony and pressed him on what he planned to say, but he insisted he would tell regulators everything he knew, the suit said.
Romaneck was fired "shortly after he refused to submit to (Deutsche Bank's) pressure regarding his testimony,'' attorney Kelly Armstrong wrote in the suit. She said he testified for four hours in July, two months after his dismissal.
After firing him, the company filed a report with the SEC that falsely accused him of wrongdoing and has made him unemployable, Romaneck said. His suit also accuses Deutsche Bank of firing him while he was disabled from a work-related injury, and of cheating him out of commissions.
Deutsche Bank spokesperson Rohini Pragasam said the company would not comment on pending litigation.
