Dealership responds to lawsuit

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This article was published 01/09/2017 (2969 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A local car dealership accused of wrongfully dismissing two women employees who complained about sexual harassment in the workplace says it “continues to investigate” their complaints, and denies any wrongdoing.

Two former employees are suing the Vickar Mitsubishi dealership, alleging the company failed to act on their complaints about an alleged “sexually toxic” work environment and instead fired them without cause.

In nearly identical statements of defence filed in court on behalf of Vickar Mitsubishi and the other corporate defendants, including Lakeside Automotive Group, Ltd. and Vickar Auto Group Clearance, Ltd., the defendants say they were aware of complaints from both women that they had been assaulted by a former dealership employee, who worked there for about a year until July 2016.

“The corporate defendants investigated this complaint in accordance with its internal policies and continues to investigate,” both statements of defence say.

The defendants acknowledge both women were “terminated” from their positions with the dealership but are asking the court to dismiss the women’s claims. The allegations haven’t been proven and no hearing dates have been set.

The women each claim they were subjected to repeated public sexual commentary and unwanted touching from male employees at Vickar Mitsubishi and that the company ignored their complaints and failed to implement anti-sexual-harassment policies.

But the corporate defendants say Vickar Mitsubishi “operates its business in accordance with its own policies in a fair and reasonable manner,” according to the statements of defence.

One of the women began working as a full-time receptionist for Vickar Mitsubishi in July 2015, and was fired in February 2016 after she made two formal complaints about the behaviour of a now former employee. She accuses the dealership of ignoring “consistent and ongoing” sexual advances at the hands of her superiors.

The second woman worked as a finance manager for Vickar Mitsubishi from September 2015 until she was fired on April 5, 2016. Among her allegations are claims that male employees made repeated remarks about her breasts, made “public sexual gestures” in the showroom including rubbing her shoulders and blowing in her ear.

katie.may@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @thatkatiemay