PITTSBURGH – An Allegheny County woman alleges she was given a profane note by the manager on duty and discriminated against on the basis of her sex, when she brought her vehicle in for its regular inspection to a local Midas auto shop.
Thomasina Deveraux filed suit in the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas on Nov. 9 versus Midas Auto Experts, 401 Monroevile Auto Center, Ltd. (doing business as “Midas Auto Service Experts”) and Christopher Ireland, of Monroeville.
“On or about Jan.29, 2022, Deveraux took her vehicle to Midas for her yearly inspection. Deveraux encountered Ireland, the service manager at Midas, who was unprofessional and rude. After some time, Ireland called Deveraux to the counter, and gave her the receipt. On the receipt were the words, ‘Big f—ing hurry c—t b—ch.’ Deveraux was embarrassed and appalled,” the suit says.
“Deveraux is a member of a Pennsylvania Human Relations Act-protected class, female. Defendants are ‘people’ as defined by the PHRA. Defendants created a severely harassing environment on the basis of sex. Deveraux was subjectively offended by defendants’ conduct. Any reasonable woman in Deveraux’s position would have been objectively offended by defendants’ conduct. As a direct and proximate result of defendants’ conduct, Deveraux was injured, and suffered damages including emotional distress, loss of enjoyment of life and embarrassment.”
The suit adds Midas should have known that its employee would have discriminated against female customers, and attempts to hold the company accountable.
“A reasonable and prudent employer would have discovered its employees’ unfitness to be hired, and not hired them. Midas breached its duty and responsibility of care to use reasonable care to train its employees to ensure that they were fit to perform their duties for Midas, to include appropriately interacting with customers. A reasonable and prudent employer would have learned of its employees’ unfitness to start working and trained them. Midas breached its duty and responsibility of care when it failed to train its employees to suppress or otherwise eliminate their propensities to engage in sex discrimination,” the suit states.
For counts of sex discrimination and negligence, the plaintiff is seeking, jointly and severally where appropriate, damages in excess of $50,000, for non-economic compensatory damages to include emotional damages, humiliation, embarrassment, punitive damages, attorney’s fees and costs of suit.
The plaintiff is represented by Martell Harris of The Trial Law Firm, in Pittsburgh.
The defendants have not yet obtained legal counsel.
Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas case GD-22-013742
From the Pennsylvania Record: Reach Courts Reporter Nicholas Malfitano at nick.malfitano@therecordinc.com