Law Office of Joshua A. Burt

Today, The Law Office of Joshua A. Burt secured a judgment in favor of its client, Kristine Avalos, in the matter of Avalos v. Wahome, et al. in the sum of $429,779.00 plus attorneys’ fees.  The defendants, Michael Wahome and his companies, subjected Ms. Avalos to terrible sexual harassment, discrimination and retaliation during her employment.  Ms. Avalos was the only woman in a business dominated by aggressive and inappropriate men who sought to demoralize Ms. Avalos and make her quit.  When she refused to quit, the targeting of Ms. Avalos both escalated and became more frequent until the defendants ultimately fired her for her complaints.

This judgment will help Ms. Avalos recover from her wrongful termination and inability to work as a result of the traumatic events she suffered while employed by the defendants.

The Law Office of Joshua A. Burt filed a lawsuit today in Federal Court against Ensign Energy Services, two of its subsidiaries and two of its employees for sexual battery, sexual orientation harassment, retaliation, wrongful termination and other related claims.  The complaint alleges that Ensign’s employees accused the Plaintiff of being a homosexual and routinely sexually battered the Plaintiff.  One one occasion, an employee threw Plaintiff to the ground and stripped his outer layer of clothes before grabbing his genitals.  All the while make reference to Plaintiff’s alleged sexual orientation.  Another time, when the employees were staying at a hotel for work, an employee barged into Plaintiff’s hotel room and accosted him while he was taking a shower.  These employees continued to sexually batter and harass Plaintiff on numerous other occasions.  However, Plaintiff’s complaints to management were ignored.  In fact, when Plaintiff made his final complaint, his manager expressed that he didn’t care and promptly fired Plaintiff.  The Plaintiff is seeking damages for lost wages, emotional and physical trauma, and punitive damages.

The Law Office of Joshua A. Burt filed a lawsuit today against Rite Aid Corporation and a its District Manager for sexual harassment, discrimination, retaliation, and other related claims.  The complaint alleges that a Rite Aid Corporation District Manager required his subordinate to have sex with him in exchange for his supporting her application for a management level position.  However, as part of Rite Aid’s recruitment of Plaintiff, Rite Aid agreed that Plaintiff was being hired as a Manager and only had to go through a short  manager training period prior to assuming that position.   Shortly after beginning her training, the Rite Aid District Manager told Plaintiff she would not get the manager position she was promised.  He then suggested that they have sexual intercourse and implied that he could “help” her obtain the position.  After Plaintiff began refusing her superior’s sexual advances, he began to retaliate against her, filing multiple unfounded complaints against Plaintiff to Rite Aid Human Resources.  Each time, Human Resources found that these complaints were meritless.  However, when Plaintiff attempted to complain to Rite Aid Human Resources regarding the harassment, she was told that they didn’t have the time to even listen to her complaint.  Rite Aid then failed to investigate and the retaliation, discrimination and harassment continued relentlessly.  Ultimately, faced with escalating abuses, Plaintiff was forced to quit and take a lower paying job at another company.  The Plaintiff is seeking damages for lost wages, emotional trauma, and punitive damages.