PHILADELPHIA – A medical company’s former personal assistant has settled litigation which claimed she was subjected to sexual harassment and hostility from the company's CEO, which she had said ultimately resulted in her termination from the company in violation of federal and state law.
Lisa Camp of Hatfield initially filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on July 30 versus Samson Medical Technologies, LLC and its Chief Executive Officer Marvin Samson, of Cherry Hill, N.J.
“Plaintiff was hired by Samson Medical as Marvin’s administrative/personal assistant sometime in 2009, and up until her termination, plaintiff received all positive reviews and performed her job well. During her employment at Samson Medical, plaintiff experienced severe and pervasive harassment from Marvin,” the suit said.
“While plaintiff was working, Marvin would look for opportune moments to make sexual and unwanted suggestive advances toward plaintiff and also other female employees. Marvin never degraded male employees in this manner.”
The plaintiff alleged that Marvin leered at her constantly, that he complained about his dating and sex life to her on numerous occasions, and that he would make female employees wear short skirts and red high heels to impress clients.
“Moreover, co-workers complained that Marvin was only nice to female employees that were attractive. One co-worker that left Samson Medical texted plaintiff that, ‘The prettier you are, the nicer Marvin treated you. If any of us had an ‘off’ day, like not in heels or full face makeup, he’d treat us s––ty.’ Samson did not treat males in a similar fashion,” the suit continued.
“Marvin became jealous of plaintiff’s relationship with her fiancé, a fact observed by plaintiff’s co-workers. Marvin wanted plaintiff to end her relationship with her fiancé. At one point when plaintiff attempted to introduce Marvin to a friend so that Marvin would leave her alone, Marvin said no and told plaintiff, ‘I want you.”
The plaintiff added that she was allegedly forced to do Marvin’s “bidding” as it related to his dating and personal life which had nothing to do with her job. At one point, Marvin allegedly made the plaintiff call Selective Search Dating, a high-end dating search company, and told her to search for someone that looked like herself.
“When Marvin apparently realized that plaintiff was not going to date him or have sex with him, Marvin began giving plaintiff menial tasks. Plaintiff was also being bullied at work by a co-worker Bruce Bennitt, who would frequently give plaintiff the finger, push trash cans in her direction and ask her for money. When plaintiff complained to Marvin about Bennitt, he just laughed and did nothing about it. When plaintiff realized that Marvin was not going to stop the demeaning treatment of her and also do nothing about Bennitt, plaintiff complained to her supervisor and Martin’s son, Scott Samson. Scott similarly did nothing. On March 22, 2020, Scott called plaintiff to stay home for two weeks. Scott told plaintiff it was a temporary furlough and to go ahead and collect unemployment,” the suit stated.
“On March 29, 2020, Marvin called plaintiff and told plaintiff she was terminated but that he would revisit her situation in June of 2020. After March 29, 2020, plaintiff had several conversations with Scott and Marvin. Despite Marvin claiming that plaintiff was voluntarily leaving, plaintiff told Marvin she wanted to work and was returning. Marvin refused and plaintiff later discovered that she was the only one terminated. Plaintiff was qualified for her position, received good reviews and promotions prior to her termination. Plaintiff avers that her termination was pre-textual because of her refusal to date or have sex with Marvin.”
Defense counsel for Samson, Leslie Miller Greenspan of Tucker Law Group, issued a brief statement regarding the litigation on behalf of her clients.
“We adamantly deny the allegations in the complaint and intend to vigorously and fully defend the lawsuit,” Greenspan said.
Samson, a holder of five pharmaceutical patents and philanthropist, was named as one of the “Men of the Year” by South Jersey Magazine in 2012 due to his donating $1 million to Virtua Health, leading to one of the health care group's cancer centers being named in his honor. Philadelphia's University of the Sciences also features the Marvin Samson Center for the History of Pharmacy, which serves as a research resource for students, professionals and historians.
UPDATE
The defendants continued to assert that the plaintiff’s allegations were baseless.
“Plaintiff cannot and will not prove that she was sexually harassed, as it simply never happened. Other employees of Samson Medical Technologies will be able to testify that they never heard or saw any inappropriate conduct by Mr. Samson towards plaintiff and that plaintiff never complained to them about any such conduct. The defense witnesses will also be able to testify to the financial assistance voluntarily and generously provided by Mr. Samson to plaintiff to assist plaintiff in paying her property taxes and having her grandchild attend summer camp,” in a filing from a Rule 26(f) meeting.
That filing was quickly followed by an order from U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania Judge Timothy J. Savage on Sept. 13 dismissing the case outright.
“The issues between the parties having been resolved, it is ordered that this action is dismissed with prejudice, without costs, pursuant to the agreement of counsel and Local Rule 41.1(b),” Savage said.
For multiple counts of violating Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act, the plaintiff is seeking compensatory and punitive damages, including lost wages and all other sums of money, including retirement benefits and other employment benefits, pre-judgment interest, front pay, costs (including reasonable attorney’s fees), past and future damages, such other and further relief as may be just and proper, including all relief afforded to victims of discrimination, and retaliation for being subject to workplace discrimination, harassment, retaliation and a hostile work environment, and a trial by jury.
The plaintiff was represented by Robert J. Birch in Fort Washington.
The defendants were represented by Leslie Miller Greenspan of Tucker Law Group, in Philadelphia.
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania case 2:21-cv-03408
From the Pennsylvania Record: Reach Courts Reporter Nicholas Malfitano at nick.malfitano@therecordinc.com