Male peers squeezed the American that is asian plaintiff her individual life and repeatedly asked her if she had been enthusiastic about dating Asian guys, the suit states

By Bill Hetherman • Published March 14, 2020 • Updated on March 14, 2020 at 11:42 am

A previous internet engineer for Sony Electronics Inc. Is suing her ex-employer, alleging she had been fired in 2018 in retaliation for refusing the intimate improvements of her co-workers after which complaining concerning the work environment that is hostile.

The allegations in 34-year-old Jennifer Pochue’s Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit consist of intimate harassment and discrimination, retaliation, failure to avoid intimate harassment and discrimination and termination that is wrongful. The suit filed Monday seeks damages that are unspecified.

A Sony agent failed to instantly respond to a ask for remark.

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Sony hired Pochue in November 2015 since the quality assurance engineering analyst for Sony’s Marina del Rey office after relocating from New York, where she offered an offer that is lucrative a place here to simply accept the Sony work, the suit states.

Pochue was the woman that is only her group along with her supervisors, supervisors along with other employees over over repeatedly harassed her because of her intercourse, with conduct that included unwelcome improvements from her male team people, the suit states.

“Arguably friendly in the beginning, Sony’s improvements quickly escalated to extremely improper, intimate and sexual in general, ” in accordance with the suit.

Pochue’s male peers pressed the American that is asian plaintiff her individual life and repeatedly asked her if she had been thinking about dating Asian guys, the suit states.

A male colleague forced his way into the seat next to Pochue and asked, “I like the way your neck looks … when can I take you out? ” the suit states at a showing of a “Star Wars” movie for Sony employees.

The exact same colleague knew that Pochue arrived very very very early to focus and where she parked her car, so he place their car close to her regular room and waited on her behalf to obtain here into the mornings, the suit states. The colleague additionally described her as their “slut, ” in line with the suit.

Pochue complained to Sony’s recruiting department, but rather of assisting her, a manager there shared with her, “It is okay for folks to own inter-office relationships at Sony, ” the suit states.

Another male colleague made numerous unsuccessful relationship improvements to Pochue, the suit states. Throughout a lunch that is work-related mid-2017, he pulled their eyelids so that they had been slanted and thought to the plaintiff, “Look dudes, i am Asian, ” the suit states.

Pochue again complained to the recruiting supervisor about so-called harassment, nevertheless the supervisor shared with her to stay “hushed” in order to avoid upsetting people in the department that is small that the plaintiff worked, in line with the suit.

Experiencing that she ended up being only interested in women, the suit states that she was on her own and that Sony management would not help her thwart the alleged advances, Pochue began telling the male colleagues she accused of harassing her.

Nevertheless, her efforts chinese bride only encouraged her male downline to add her in conversations about their intercourse life and also the different Asian ladies they had been dating and their intimate performances, the suit states.

In citing just one more exemplory case of so-called harassment, the suit states that the Sony supervisor frequently asked Pochue “inappropriate and demeaning questions” regarding her bisexuality, such as the regularity and types of intercourse she had with ladies.

The so-called harassers proceeded Pochue that is bothering via and Skype even while she went on leave in 2017 to cure back surgery also to look after her ill mom, the suit states.

The suit also alleges that Sony management hacked into her cloud drive and obtained intimate pictures of her, then accused her of putting the pictures on her work laptop computer, in accordance with the suit.

“Then Sony utilized the personal materials to label (Pochue) a slut in a misguided work to discredit her complaints about intimate harassment and intercourse discrimination, ” the suit alleges.

Sony management made the accusations against Pochue regarding the day that is same June 2018 which they had guaranteed to research her harassment allegations, the suit states.

Sony administration fired Pochue a later after telling her that the presence of the intimate photos of her on her work computer violated company policy, the suit states month.