A sexual harassment lawsuit filed against the Joplin Housing Authority and supervisor Earnest Charles in Jasper County Circuit Court September 29 was removed to U. S. District Court today.
In the lawsuit, the plaintiff, Jamie Miller-Price, who was on the only woman in the maintenance department of the Joplin Housing Authority claimed Charles harassed her.
From the petition:
On or about March 12, 2024, Plaintiff was sitting in her parked vehicle on Housing Authority property during business hours.The driver’s side window of her vehicle was rolled down and she was speaking with Mr. Charles about work. Mr. Charles reached his hand through the open window and caressed Plaintiff’s cheek with his hand in a sexual manner.
Mr. Charles began breathing heavily, appearing as though he was receiving sexual gratification from this conduct. Plaintiff froze up and was unable to move. She did not know what to do.
Subsequent to this interaction, Plaintiff reported Mr. Charles’ conduct to Debra Valdivia who was the operations manager at the Housing Authority.
In a later interaction, Plaintiff was seated while on duty. Mr. Charles’ approached Plaintiff from behind and pulled the elastic lining of her underwear and let go, making a pop sound.
Mr. Charles would make inappropriate comments during working hours such as calling Plaintiff “my girl”, telling her she should wear earrings to work, and telling her she had pretty eyes.
Subsequently, Mr. Charles again approached Plaintiff while she was sitting in her truck. He again reached his hand through the window and caressed Plaintiff’s cheek just as he had done previously during the March 2024 encounter.
Again, Plaintiff froze up, was unable to move, and did not know what to do. Plaintiff again reported this situation to operations manager Debra Valdivia.
On or about August 8, 2024, Mr. Charles poured water down the front of Plaintiff’s shirt. Plaintiff reported this situation to operations manager Debra Valdivia.
On or about August 23, 2024, Mr. Charles came up to Plaintiff while on duty at a property operated by the Housing Authority and again caressed Plaintiff’s cheek in a sexual manner similarly to the two prior sexual assaults.
Plaintiff again reported this situation to operations manager Debra Valdivia.
After the August 23, 2024 occurrence, Plaintiff began receiving less desirable assignments. She would be tasked to complete jobs by herself which typically were jobs assigned to two or more employees. Similarly situated male employees were not required to perform these same jobs alone.
On October 8, 2024, Plaintiff reported to the executive director that Mr. Charles was giving her more difficult assignments and treating her differently than her male co-workers. Mr. Moran, the executive director, reminded her that when she started working for the Housing Authority he warned her there may be issues and that he told her that “boys will be boys.”
Mr. Charles continued to treat Plaintiff differently than other male employees.
Mr. Charles failed to inform Plaintiff she was to be on-call, which resulted in Plaintiff missing a call to respond to a maintenance issue on October 29, 2024.
It became clear to Plaintiff that nothing was being done about Mr. Charles’ treatment of her and that Mr. Charles was retaliating against Plaintiff because she had reported his conduct to Ms. Valdivia.
On or about November 13, 2024, Plaintiff reported to executive director Matt Moran that she had experienced sexual harassment by Mr. Charles and that he was treating her differently than male employees.
By this point, Plaintiff had begun treatment with a physician for mental health issues she began suffering because of her treatment at work. Specifically, Plaintiff was diagnosed with PTSD as a result of Mr. Charles’ sexual assault and harassment at work.
Plaintiff requested from Mr. Moran a reasonable accommodation for her condition which included no direct, in-person contact with Mr. Charles and any communications from Mr. Charles to be in text message.
It was Plaintiff’s understanding this request would be put in place.
Subsequently, Mr. Charles attempted to call Plaintiff on multiple occasions and attempted to speak with her in-person.
On November 22, 2024, Plaintiff was placed on administrative leave with pay. On information and belief, Mr. Charles was allowed to continue working.
Miller-Price is represented by Nicolas William Allen, Springfield.
7 comments:
If that isn’t extreme sexual harassment then I don’t know what is. From all indications posted in this story, it seems that she will win the suit - and I hope that she does!
I call Bullsh*t! I know him and I know her. He would never do anything like that!! She is butch and bitter she got fired and was always trying trying to start stuff with them. She got fired and is bitter about it!!
If Plaintiff reported Mr. Charles’ conduct to Debra Valdivia who was the operations manager at the Housing Authority - multiple times this is a "No-Brainer" Lawsuit - He needs to put on Permanent Leave - Until Terminated after the Lawsuit - Valdivia needs to speak up or face losing her job too - this is all on the Taxpayer's Dime - people working for Government Agencies all need a wakeup call - start acting right or see what you can find in the Unemployment lines - tired of all this crap - just do your jobs - No more BS or Messing Around - -
Fire his ass and get it over with. Most ppl would've been dismissed by now.
4:36 be careful you truly never know people, you’d be surprised
This makes No Sense! If this lady reported these inappropriate actions to the Housing manager but the housing manager did nothing about any of these supposed incidents and she reported on several occasions. First the housing manager did not do her job! Second why didn’t this lady go directly to the director with these allegations!! Why would you keep telling someone that is doing nothing!? Why not go to the head person if these supposed allegations were going on?? Why would anyone with a big title who has the Authority, not say anything? And keep it to their selves especially when I read that this Debra, housing manager was her mother. Were these supposed allegations really reported? Did they actually happen? Because if you are any type of parent a mother or father and your child came to you with any supposed allegations, especially like these. Her mother did nothing!? Come on now! Let’s get real! I think all the eggs need to be in the basket before minds are made about anyone! And Why Now all the sudden a year later all this coming to lite! A lot of this doesn’t make sense nor does it add up! There’s too many holes in this story to make sense! Sounds like someone is mad or maybe it’s about money. Now there’s PTSD being brought into this case. What now she can’t work? Let’s get real! Sounds like she’s seeking a pay out and putting a man’s life, name and family at stake for a penny. And others jobs on the line as well. That’s sad! It’s sickening what the mighty dollar will do to people. Just remember Only God can set you FREE! The truth will shine!
Where do u see it was her mom?
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