Hendersonville woman sues Ingles Markets for sexual harassment, employment discrimination

A Hendersonville woman is suing Ingles Markets for employment discrimination, saying she was fired after she complained of sexual harassment by an assistant store manager.

Phyllis Bannish, 54, filed the lawsuit Jan. 16 in U.S. District Court, alleging Jeremy Douglas sexually harassed her over the course of a year while she held various positions at the Ingles on North Broad Street in Brevard.

The lawsuit alleges that Douglas would come up behind Bannish so that she could feel his penis and “sandwich” her between himself and the cash register, and on various occasions he would tell her, “I want to get me some of that,” referring to wanting to have sexual intercourse with her.

EEOC complaint filed in 2016

Bannish first filed an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission complaint in November 2016, alleging discrimination under the federal Civil Rights Act for sexual harassment and retaliatory termination of employment.

She received a notice of right to sue from the EEOC in October.

“Ingles has a long-standing and well-known commitment to prohibiting harassment and discrimination in any form and actively promotes an environment of respect at every level of the Company,” Ingles Markets’ CFO Ron Freeman wrote in an email to the Citizen Times on Jan. 24.

“To that end, Ingles associates have numerous avenues — including an anonymous helpline — for reporting any and all concerns so that they can be fairly investigated and promptly addressed. Ingles does not permit harassment or discrimination in any form and takes that commitment to its associates and the organization very seriously.”

Freeman did not respond to a request for the company’s sexual harassment policy or reply to whether the company holds trainings in sexual harassment policies for its employees. The store’s website has a “Code of Ethics” page that applies to its CEO and senior financial officers but nothing that specifically addresses sexual or workplace harassment.

Ingles Markets, headquartered in Black Mountain, was founded by Asheville resident Bob Ingle more than 50 years ago. It now operates more than 200 stores in six Southeastern states, with annual sales of more than $4 billion, according to its website.

‘Good old boy mentality’

According to court documents, Bannish said she began working at the Brevard Ingles around March 2015, where she held various positions, including cashier, customer service manager, and scanner coordinator.

“At all times I performed these jobs in a fully satisfactory manner,” she stated in the documents.

However, she said, within weeks of starting as a cashier, assistant store manager Douglas, “began behaving inappropriately when he was near me. For instance, Douglas often would come up behind me and stand unnecessarily close to me so that the front of his pants touched my backside, or he would reach over me so that his arm would purposely brush against my breast. He also would stare at me and lick his lips with his hands in his pockets.”

On other occasions, Bannish said, “I noticed that when I was seated in the customer service office, he would walk towards me while tugging on his penis.”

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In April 2015, Bannish said she complained to her supervisor, Dorene Bolt, about Douglas’ inappropriate behavior. She said Bolt told her to drop the complaints, telling Bannish “it is the good-old-boy mentality and if you report this you will get fired and their lawyers will eat you alive.”

When Douglas’ sexual harassment continued, she said she complained again to Bolt in June and October 2015, both times Bolt repeating that complaining to store manager Jarrett “would be useless.”

Sometime after Bannish’s October complaint, Bolt transferred to another Ingles’ store.

Court documents state that the sexual harassment continued, sometimes with Douglas rubbing his arms on Bannish’s chest while she was helping to scan items, in front of others, and sometimes alone in an office.

On or about June 5, 2016, while discussing Bannish’s various promotions, “Douglas made a comment insinuating that Jarrett had promoted me in return for sexual favors. After he made this comment, I immediately left the conversation as I was emotionally distraught and crying.”

She was scheduled to be off work June 6 and 7, 2015, but said she made a special trip to the store on her day off to speak to Jarret about Douglas’ “crude behavior.”

According to the lawsuit, when Bannish began complaining to Jarrett, he said, “I guess you don’t want to work here anymore.”

“I understood from that statement that I was terminated, and did not return to work the next day as was originally scheduled,” she stated in the lawsuit.

Jarrett told the Citizen Times on Jan. 24 that he is still the Brevard Ingles store manager and Douglas is still the assistant store manager, but said he could not comment further on the lawsuit.

Bannish is seeking more than $200,000 in compensatory and punitive damages for gender discrimination, negligent infliction of emotional distress, loss of wages and other benefits.

In a Jan. 24 statement to the Citizen Times, Bannish said she “still suffers anxiety because of (the sexual harassment)” and she “hopes to see a change in Ingles’ way of handling sexual harassment. (I’d) like to see it handled with more compassion.”

Her attorney, Brentley Cronquist said he “hopes this is not happening to other individuals and they are not having to go through this.”