A Seattle woman who claimed she was antagonized and harassed because of her sexual orientation at the Goodyear store where she worked and then was demoted after she complained about it has been awarded $4.4 million by a King County jury.
Daniel F. Johnson, the attorney for Melissa Sheffield, 47, said Thursday's jury award "sends a message to employers in Washington that discrimination and retaliation will not be tolerated." Sheffield, 47, began working for Goodyear in Seattle in 1994 as a sales representative and received promotions until she was made store manager of a Goodyear store near Northgate in 1999, according to the suit filed last year.
According to the suit, Sheffield neither hid nor flaunted her sexual orientation until her former manager encouraged her to bring her partner to an annual company dinner, where she received an "adverse reaction" from another store manager,
In 2003, her former boss was replaced by a new district manager, defendant Randy Reich, and a new service manager, David Johnson, was assigned to the store, the suit claims.
Johnson "immediately let it be known ... that he knew Sheffield was gay and did not like gays," the suit claims.
When Sheffield learned that Johnson carried a gun to work she confronted him about it and he confirmed it and threatened to pull it out and to urinate on her, she claimed in the suit.
Sheffield complained to Reich and when he took no action she went over his head and reported the conflict to human resources in Goodyear's corporate office.
The company investigated, corroborated the complaint and fired Johnson, according to the lawsuit. But she was demoted to assistant store manager and went from making $55,000 a year to $13 an hour, according to the lawsuit.
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