Discrimination Harassment Retaliation
Plaintiff Linda Castillo began working for Caritas Business Services (“Caritas”) as a Self Pay Representative in 2008. In 2011, she was promoted to the position of Account Representative and Rose Pereira became her supervisor.
Ms. Pereira immediately began to sexually harass Ms. Castillo in 2011 when she assumed her role as supervisor. Ms. Pereira stared at Ms. Castillo’s cleavage; made gestures with her hands about the size and shape of Ms. Castillo’s breasts; told Ms. Castillo, “Oh, it looks like you’re breastfeeding,” suggesting that Ms. Castillo’s breasts looked larger; and gave Ms. Castillo long hugs, pressing against Ms. Castillo’s chest with force. Ms. Castillo felt that Ms. Pereira took opportunities daily to gawk at and make physical contact with Ms. Castillo’s breasts.
Ms Pereira also spied on Ms. Castillo when she went to the bathroom and made unwanted comments.
Ms. Castillo is a soft-spoken mother of three children from a traditional and conservative Mexican family. She had never been sexually harassed before. Ms. Castillo began to suffer from severe anxiety and depression after Ms. Pereira started harassing her. Ms. Castillo sought help from her medical provider, complaining that her supervisor at work stared at her breasts, made comments about how big they were and tried to make contact with them whenever she could.
Ms. Castillo’s doctor suggested that Ms. Castillo consider breast reduction surgery. However, Ms. Castillo feared surgery and considered the solution to be drastic.
Ms. Pereira continued to stare, touch and make inappropriate comments to Ms. Castillo for the remainder of 2011. In 2012, Ms. Castillo became increasingly traumatized. She was unable to withstand any further harassment. In a desperate measure to try to put a halt to Ms. Pereira’s harassment, she opted to go forward with breast reduction surgery in April 2012.
Unfortunately, Ms. Pereira continued to harass Ms. Castillo. Ms. Castillo lodged numerous complaints with Caritas. However, Caritas took no steps to prevent further harassment. Ultimately, Ms. Castillo took a leave of absence because the workplace harassment became so intolerable. She sought out counseling and was prescribed anti-depressants for the first time in her life. To this day, she remains distressed, anxious, and depressed.