A disturbing new report about Kay Jewelers and Jared the Galleria of Jewelry points to "rampant Sexual Harassment and discrimination" from hundreds of employees of the popular jewelry stores owned by Sterling Jewelers. The Washington Post has obtained documents from a class-action case that was filed by approximately 250 men and women who have worked for the company and the claims are shocking.
Employees who have worked for either Kay or Jared from the late 90s and into the 2000s have claimed that in order to keep their jobs they had to stay quiet about being "routinely groped and demeaned" by their bosses and asked to "sexually cater" to management.
But that's not all — 69,000 women who have worked (or still work) for the jewelry chain state that Sterling practices widespread gender discrimination.
Sexual harassment and more
First filed in 2008, the case still remains unresolved but the employees who have stepped forward about sexual harassment and gender discrimination have no intention of dropping their claim.
The Washington Post states that Sterling Jewelers, the company behind Jared and Kay, disputes the allegations but the sworn statements by thousands of current and former employees are putting plenty of pressure on the company that has over 1,500 stores nationwide.
Disturbing employee statements
Many of the statement were made years ago with the Post reporting that at least one of the former employees has died since the claims were filed.
That's how long it's taken to move this case forward. However, the claims made by employees, whether current or former, of Kay and Jared are so disturbing it's shocking that this case has been kept under wraps for so long.
The report claims that the employees’ attorneys were recently granted permission to release the statements to the public on February 26 and that may be the reason why most people have never heard about the charges against Kay and Jared.
Employees claim that male managers "dispatched scouting parties to stores to find female employees they wanted to sleep with." The report goes on to say that the Jared and Kay Jewelers bosses "laughed about women's bodies" and pushed them into having sex with them if they wanted to get a better position in the company or higher pay.
“If you didn’t do what he wanted with him, you wouldn’t get your (preferred) store or raise.” one former employee claims in a sworn statement.
Sterling denies claims
Sterling spokesman David Bouffard tells the Washington Post that the company has done their own investigation into the hundreds of sexual harassment and discrimination claims and continue to downplay the employees' sworn statements, citing that the claims can't be substantiated.
