Our former employee of a publicly-traded, Toronto-based waste management company is suing the company for telling her that she would have to resign and "agree" to never work for the company again if she wanted compensation for being sexually harassed on the job.
Ms. Heather Cummins - who was hired by Waste Industries, in 2018, before it was acquired by GFL Environmental (NYSE: GFL) - filed a discrimination lawsuit against the company on June 22, 2021, in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee. In her complaint, Ms. Cummins alleges that, immediately after she was hired for a sales position in Clarksville, Tennessee, her general manager, Chad Keelean, sexually harassed her, propositioned her, and asked her to send pictures of herself to him, over the course of approximately eight months. Ms. Cummins states that when she rejected Keelean's advances, he would gaslight her by saying that he was "just joking," and brag about his clout in the industry.
Ms. Cummins further alleges that when she complained to GFL, the company offered to compensate her but, in exchange, she would have to:
Keelean, on the other hand, was allowed to depart from GFL without a non-compete agreement. In fact, Keelean has since built his own waste disposal company in the same region as GFL.
Ms. Cummins, a Tennessee native and married mother of three children, says she filed a lawsuit because, "GFL attempted to punish me for its own failures. Rather than protect me, it resorted to an attempt to silence me, ruin my career, and destroy my livelihood. These kinds of 'agreements' are archaic, should be illegal and against public policy."
Ms. Cummins is represented by Chicago-based attorney Tamara Holder who focuses her practice on institutional abuse and multi-plaintiff litigation. She is a nationally recognized voice on workplace equality and worked as progressive legal analyst and host on Fox News Channel for nearly a decade. If you have information about GFL Environmental that you believe may help our case, please contact us. 312-818-3850 or contact@tamaraholder.com
Chicago-based attorney, Tamara Holder, of The Law Firm of Tamara N. Holder, LLC, and their co-counsel, filed suit in the Northern District of Illinois on behalf of 34 former "Twin Peaks Girls" who worked at Twin Peaks Restaurants Illinois and Texas locations. Additionally, the firms filed requests to arbitrate for an additional 19 women signed an arbitration agreement upon hiring at Twin Peaks franchise La Cima Restaurants. The women allege they were recruited into a "fun" job with "flexible scheduling" only to then learn, after hiring, that they would be body graded every day and constantly fat shamed by management and corporate. The young women also allege that when they were sexually harassed by customers and complained to management, they were ignored or retaliated against for complaining. Additional claims involve race discrimination against African American workers, and sexual orientation against a homosexual male busboy.
For more on this case, check out the story written by Alexia Elejalde-Ruiz for The Chicago Tribune, on August 7, 2020:
Twin Peaks hit with federal lawsuit alleging lingerie uniforms, body grading system led to ‘rampant sexual harassment’
Tamara Holder is a Chicago-based attorney who focuses her practice on institutional abuse. Ms. Holder's work includes seeking clemency (via pardon, commutation of sentence) from Illinois Governor JB Pritzker via the Prisoner Review Board, workplace discrimination (sexual harassment, race discrimination, disability discrimination), and sexual abuse by doctors (filed suit against NorthShore University HealthSystem for harboring a now-indicted gynecologist). A plaintiff's attorney, Ms. Holder also provides consulting to companies accused of workplace misconduct and helps the company determine the proper response.
For inquiries please contact us at: contact@tamaraholder.com or (312) 818-3850
