Former employee at Macon car dealership alleges racial, sex harassment. She’s suing.
A former employee of a car dealership in Macon has sued her employers after she was subjected to racial and sexual harassment, a new lawsuit filed Thursday says.
The lawsuit from Zykeria Clowers, an African-American woman who worked for Butler Toyota of Macon from 2022 to May of this year, alleged that the harassment she received was “severe and pervasive” and created “a discriminatory abusive working environment.”
She’s suing the Butler Automotive Group, which owns Butler Toyota, where she worked.
There were several allegations in the lawsuit that featured explicit terms derogatory to women and minorities. In one incident alleged in the lawsuit, the service manager at the dealership told Clowers, “you are my b****.”
On another occasion, when Clowers asked a fellow employee what he was having for lunch that day, he allegedly replied with a vulgar sexual comment and followed it by saying, “you know you want some of this, and you’re going to get it. I just have to be patient with you.”
She allegedly was subjected to more racial and sexual remarks, including being told she was supposed to be white, according to the lawsuit. The legal document referenced a conversation between two coworkers who said they didn’t want to catch her “blackness.”
On March 29, 2023, Clowers spoke to her supervisor about the discrimination she faced and was told a meeting would be called to address the conduct. However, the meeting was never called and the discrimination didn’t stop, the lawsuit said.
A lawsuit only accounts for one side of an argument, and neither Butler Automotive Group nor Butler Toyota have replied to the lawsuit in court yet. The Butler Automotive Group declined to comment Tuesday.
The lawsuit said Clowers had to resign because of the discrimination. She’s accusing Butler Automotive Group of violating Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex and national origin.
Clowers is asking a court to grant appropriate back pay in an amount determined at a jury trial, front pay, reinstatement or other relief that will stop the effects of the auto group’s “unlawful” employment practices, according to her lawsuit. She’s also seeking compensation for pecuniary and non-pecuniary loss for the group’s conduct, including emotional pain, suffering, anxiety, stress, depression and humiliation, punitive damages and attorney’s fees and costs.
