DAILY PRESS COURTS: Roadway Express order to pay after she is victorious in discrimination suit. By Teri Figueroa, Staff Writer Victorville — It was six years of harassment on the job, she says. Six years of her bosses passing her over for promotions. Not to mention the nude drawings of her scrawled on a stall in the men’s bathroom – and left there for months. Reggi Khoury is angry and says it was discrimination, pure and simple. A jury agreed with her this week and awarded the Apple Valley woman more than $6 million from her former employer, Roadway Express Inc. “This was absolutely a giant victory,” Khoury’s Attorney, Kathleen Keefe, said Tuesday. “This is vindication after years of a struggle for this woman. This is a very, very fair verdict.” On Monday, jurors awarded Khoury $1 million from the company for emotional distress. On Tuesday, they added another $5 million in punitive damages against Roadway. They also penalized her former boss, Frank Patterson, $7,000 for intentional emotional distress. Eleven of the 12 jurors voted to award Khoury; only nine votes are needed in civil court. “The jury was very generous in staying and talking about their verdict,” Keefe said. “They told us they thought Roadway Express’s response to the gender harassment complaint was a sham.” Employees at Roadway’s Adelanto offices referred media calls to the company’s headquarters in Akron, Ohio. Corporate spokesman, John Hyre, said the case was “a difference of opinion.” “We have a zero tolerance approach to harassment, discrimination, and intimidation.” Hyre said, “We will have to look at the (jury’s) finding and go from here. That could include an appeal.” Hyre declined to discuss when the company will pay Khoury. “That is inappropriate for me to discuss at this time,” Hyre said. “That question is hypothetical.” Khoury was a low-level management employee at Roadway’s Adelanto facility from 1993 to 1999. During that time, she said, managers repeatedly passed her over for promotions. Instead, officials offered her a job off the docks – and outside the management track. “The wanted to put me in a dead-end job,” Khoury said. Khoury and her attorney also presented evidence that management declined three years running to give her the company’s prestigious Apex Award – even though her peers voted to give it to her. “There is a strong corollary between the Apex Award and promotions,” Keefe said. Khoury had received numerous other awards from the company, including two for outstanding performance. Jurors also heard testimony about the nude drawing an employee had scrawled on a stall in the men’s bathroom. That drawing remained up for at least six months, Khoury said, despite her requests to have it removed. “As soon as we found out the jury had reached a verdict, I went completely numb,” Khoury said. “No man or woman on the face of the earth should be treated like I was by Roadway. I pray to God that Roadway learns a lesson from this. I hope they don’t treat anyone like this ever again.” |