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SUPPLEMENT TO THE EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION
CHARGE OF MELISSA DOGALI
I. PRELIMINARY STATEMENT
1. Guest Services Inc. (“Guest Services” or the “Company”) proudly claims on its
website that “our people are our best resource, and we value them as such.” What Guest Services
fails to mention is that when a female employee becomes pregnant and has a child, she is perceived
2. After disclosing to Guest Services that I was pregnant and had my first child, this is
exactly what I experienced after my pregnancy became the fodder of the office.
female employee with adult children and transferred my most valuable accounts to her, promoted
her and another employee and made me report to them, and instructed me to stop my traveling
responsibilities during the end of my pregnancy, even though I was fully capable of traveling.
4. When I gave birth, my supervisor, Barry Trice, told me to take additional time away
lower-level employee. In addition, Guest Services made it difficult for me to use a breast pump
throughout the workday and the individuals I reported to became increasingly hostile towards me.
6. Instead, Guest Services hired a new “District Manger” that within a few months
assumed almost all of the properties that I managed, and once that was done, Guest Services
terminated my employment a week later for an ambiguous, inconsistent and plainly pretextual
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II. BACKGROUND
condominium management.
Project Management from New York University. I also hold a Florida Community Association
Manager License, a Manager Certification for Food and Beverage Operation and an Association
9. Prior to joining Guest Services, I served as the Director of Hotel Operations for
American Cruise Lines, the Resort Project and Association Manager at Copper Mountain Resort in
Colorado and Resort Manager of the Porto Cupecoy Development in Cupecoy, St. Maarten.
10. In 2016, the Company aggressively recruited me for the position of Managing
11. I left my position at American Cruise Lines, in Connecticut, and joined Guest
Services in Naples, Florida in or around August 2016, with the title of Managing Director at a
salary of $100,000 plus benefits, as well as and a potential bonus of 15% my salary.
management to teams of senior managers in all hospitality areas, including the hotel and
condominium divisions.
13. I also was responsible for developing marketing and revenue management strategies
to drive and maximize traffic and revenue, aiding in property acquisition and contract execution at
Giants Ridge, organizing and directing contract deliverables and budget creations, overseeing a
complete reformation of onsite teams and overseeing pre-storm and post-storm operations during
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“Hurricane Irma,” one of Florida’s most significant and damaging storms, during which I remained
on site for extended periods of time at properties that required special attention.
15. At the end of 2016, I was provided a generous bonus, even though one was not
guaranteed.
16. In or around the fall of 2016, I was overjoyed to learn that I was pregnant with my
first child.
17. I was apprehensive about how Guest Services would respond to the news of my
pregnancy because I had not seen or heard about of any other employees becoming pregnant in my
office. For this reason, I decided to wait until I was further along in my pregnancy before
18. In or around April 2017, Mary Danitz, my coworker at the time, learned that I was
pregnant when she overheard me discussing my pregnancy with someone not associated with
Guest Services.
19. However, Ms. Danitz said nothing to me, and I did not even realize that Ms. Danitz
20. Instead, Ms. Danitz, who does not have children, apparently reported my pregnancy
21. Just days later, Mr. Trice set up a meeting with me, but did not explain what the
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22. When I arrived, Mr. Trice immediately asked me “so I hear you’re expecting?” I,
23. Mr. Trice told me that the women in the office had been talking about my
pregnancy, and that they believed that I should have disclosed my pregnancy sooner.
24. I made clear that I did not expect my workload or responsibilities to change as a
result of my pregnancy, and attempted to move onto another topic, but Mr. Trice quickly ended the
meeting. It was clear that Mr. Trice’s only reason for calling the meeting was to ask me questions
about my pregnancy.
25. In addition, Mr. Trice said nothing about our previous conversation, held shortly
before the meeting about my pregnancy, where we discussed increasing my salary to $125,000 as
well as a quarterly profit share. At the time, Mr. Trice agreed it was a good idea given my success
to date, and told me that he would be able to implement the salary change immediately and would
26. I never actually received the increase in pay, despite Mr. Trice’s promises, and I do
not believe Mr. Trice took any action to get my quarterly profit share approved now that I was
pregnant.
27. After my meeting with Mr. Trice, I learned that my coworkers were continuing to
discuss my pregnancy.
28. When I finally broached the subject with Ms. Danitz directly, she outrageously told
me that it was a “good thing [I] finally told people [I] was pregnant, because they would have
29. In addition, about a month after learning of my pregnancy, Mr. Trice hired Laura
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30. Over the course of the following two months, Mr. Trice gave Ms. Sherman nearly
32. For example, I was no longer responsible for managing projects with clients, for
overseeing Guest Services employees at certain worksites or for responding to client questions and
inquiries.
33. I complained about the unfair allocations to Mr. Trice, but Mr. Trice did nothing.
34. Instead, Mr. Trice promoted Ms. Sherman and Ms. Danitz, and expected me to
35. It was obvious to me that Mr. Trice, after learning that I was pregnant, no longer
36. At the time, I was also removed from high value accounts, and was told the reason
career, and left me with fewer chances to demonstrate high performance and success at the
38. In or around the middle of June 2017, Mr. Trice told me that he did not think I
39. Traveling to different client sites was an extremely important part of my job,
because it enabled me to establish meaningful connections with Guest Service’s clientele and
40. I responded that I did not want to and did not need to limit my travel for work.
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41. I also told Mr. Trice that there was an upcoming event that was important for the
Company that I had been looking forward to and that I was ready, willing and able to travel for
work.
42. Mr. Trice told me that I could attend if I wanted to, but made it clear to me that he
wanted me to stop travelling, which was a very important part of my work and not something that I
43. Nevertheless, I reluctantly agreed to Mr. Trice’s demand with the understanding that
Mr. Trice would reassign me projects and events that required travel again after I gave birth,
although that did not end up happening. As a result, I missed multiple events and opportunities to
45. That weekend, I received an unprompted email from Guest Services Human
Resources with documents related to taking leave under the Family Medical Leave Act.
46. When I asked Mr. Trice and Ms. Danitz about the documents, both insisted that I fill
47. I explained that I only intended to take one day off and did not believe that a full
maternity leave was necessary given that my husband worked from home, and given the way my
pregnancy had been handled to date, I believed that I would be retaliated against and ultimately
terminated if I took significant time off from work to care for my newborn.
48. However, Mr. Trice, apparently believing that he was better equipped to make
decisions regarding my newborn than myself, told me that I should not return to work and that I
49. I had given him no indication that I would need or want more time off.
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50. I tried to tell him that returning to work was my choice, and that I had the right to
choose what was right for me and my family, and that I planned to return to work on Tuesday, July
10.
51. Undeterred, Mr. Trice insisted that I work from home for at least a few weeks. I,
having no other choice, relented and worked remotely for approximately two weeks (although even
during this time I attended various meetings with clients both in the office and at the clients’
worksites).
52. After the two weeks, I returned to my regular schedule at Guest Services and
53. Upon my return from giving birth, I was given smaller and lower-value accounts
that were assigned to a lower-level employee that was leaving Guest Services.
54. On August 1, 2017, I complained to Mr. Trice about the reassignment, and wrote
(emphasis added).
few days later, Ms. Verderosa arranged a phone call with me.
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56. On that call, I reiterated my complaints and shared various examples of the
discrimination I had faced to date, including the offensive comments and gossiping about my
57. Rather than taking my complaints seriously, Ms. Verderosa responded that while
she “believed I felt this way” there was “nothing she could do to help [me] with my feelings.” This
come.
58. Over the next few months, I continued to complain to Human Resources and Mr.
Trice about discriminatory assignment allocations and changes to the reporting structure, as well as
59. As with my first complaint, these follow-up complaints fell on deaf ears and my
anything to resolve the situation, suggested that I simply “talk things out” with Ms. Danitz.
62. When I tried to do so, Ms. Danitz, who is physically much larger than me, spent the
meeting standing aggressively over me with her fists raised, and falsely accused me not being
63. She also falsely accused me of being “overwhelmed,” which she said was my “own
fault.”
64. I told Ms. Danitz that I was extremely committed to my work and not overwhelmed,
as evidenced by the fact that I took virtually no time off after giving birth.
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65. I understood Ms. Danitz’s comments to refer to the fact that I decided to have a
child.
66. Ms. Danitz would also abruptly enter my office without invitation or warning.
67. This was particularly problematic for me, as Guest Services had no designated
68. I complained to Human Resources and Ms. Sherman that there should be a
designated space for me to pump. I also asked Mr. Trice that, at the very least, I be provided a lock
the office parking lot, which is something that no woman should ever be forced to do.
70. I had my 2017 year-end review with Ms. Danitz and Ms. Sherman, and not Mr.
71. I did not receive a bonus for 2017, and was not given the salary increase that had
72. I complained to Mr. Trice about my bonus, who admitted that I “should have
received something.”
73. Unbelievably, it took Guest Services over six months to complete a sham
74. On February 15, 2018, Ms. Verderosa emailed me informing me that the
investigation was complete, and, of course, that she “didn’t find evidence to corroborate” my
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75. Ms. Verderosa also said that she would be sending a formal letter to me
summarizing the investigation and explaining the conclusion. However, I did not receive any
formal letter regarding the conclusion of the investigation into my complaints of discrimination.
76. Instead, the very next correspondence I received from Human Resources was a
“Corrective Action Notice,” sent to me that same day, which did not address my complaints of
77. This “notice” was plainly an effort to fabricate a paper trail to justify my eventual
termination.
78. Ms. Danitz also began obsessing over my whereabouts and would frequently accuse
79. For example, upon returning from an out of office meeting in around February
2018, I remained in my car for a few minutes to pump (because the Company refused to provide
80. When I walked back into the building, pump still in hand, Ms. Danitz began
berating me and demanded to know where I had been and what I was doing.
81. I explained that I had been in my car “pumping,” and Ms. Danitz chastised me and
said that she “didn’t want to hear to hear about” my need to pump.
82. In or around March 2018, Ms. Sherman asked me to drive nearly seven hours in one
day to attend a meeting, even though she was aware that I could not feasibly make such a long trip
83. I reached out to Ms. Sherman and requested permission to call into the meeting,
given that there were two more important local meetings in Naples that would be a more
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84. I also told Ms. Sherman that such a long drive would create a hardship because I
would need to stop multiple times along the way to pump and would need to refrigerate any bottles
of milk.
85. Not even bothering to hide her discriminatory contempt, Ms. Sherman responded, “I
86. I complained to Mr. Trice about Ms. Sherman’s response. I am not aware of any
87. In or around April 2018, Mr. Trice told me that there was an opportunity for
88. Mr. Trice instructed me to send my resume to Jeff Marquis, the President of Guest
Services.
89. I told Mr. Trice that I was not interested in transferring to an office in Washington
D.C. given that I had had a newborn and that my family and I were settled in Naples, Florida.
90. Despite my communicated disinterest in transferring, Mr. Trice insisted that I send
my resume to Mr. Marquis, which demonstrated his desire to be rid of me following my complaints
of discrimination.
91. I later learned that there was not even a position at my level available.
92. Shortly after urging me to leave the Florida office, Mr. Trice met with me and told
me that I was being stripped of my Managing Director title and would have to move into a new
role.
93. The “new role” was a transparent attempt to simply sideline me and strip me of all
of my responsibilities.
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94. In fact, the role was so undefined and vague that Mr. Trice told me that I would
have to create a title for the role as well as the job description.
95. I was also told that I would have to move into a new office.
96. I objected, and demanded that I be put back into the role I occupied prior to giving
birth, but Mr. Trice refused and said it may be “possible” in a “year or two” for me to return to a
97. Then, on June 19, 2018, Mr. Trice texted me and told me that he had been “hearing
a stir involving your desk. I am sorry we didn’t discuss this, but I just happen to think a desk is a
desk…”
98. The “stir” to which Mr. Trice was referring was the fact that I had
complained about my new office. Specifically, I complained that the desk in my new
office did not have a place for me to store my breast pump.1 When I brought this to the
attention of Mr. Trice, his response was simply, “This has to stop, Melissa.”
99. In sum, I complained about not having a place to store my breast pump, and Mr.
100. That same evening, Mr. Trice sent an email to the Hospitality Team announcing
that Wayne DeYorgi, a recently hired District Manager, would be taking over my remaining
properties and that I had been “appointed” as Manager, Compliance in charge of the national and
state park contracts and due diligence process for new acquisitions.
101. Given that Mr. DeYorgi was given all of my properties, it was clear he was
replacing me and that I was being demoted, given the changed title and responsibilities.
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In addition, when my belongings were transferred from my old office to my new office,
certain parts of my breast pump equipment had gone missing. They were never returned.
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102. Only one week later, on June 26, 2018, Mr. Trice and Ms. Sherman called me into a
103. At the termination meeting, I asked for the reasons for my termination.
104. Ms. Sherman volunteered that I was fired in part because of “the moving of the
desk.”
105. Mr. Trice refused to discuss the desk incident, and provided an ambiguous,
106. I was so overwhelmed by the abrupt and unexpected nature of my termination that I
107. While Mr. Trice initially called emergency medical services, as soon as EMS
arrived, Mr. Trice and Ms. Sherman ignored me and began discussing work-related items while I
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