EDWARDSVILLE – A former employee of Impact Fulfillment Services is suing the company, alleging she was sexually harassed by one if its employees for months and then terminated for refusing to work with him any longer.
Plaintiff Eureka Ware filed the lawsuit in the Madison County Circuit Court against defendant Impact Fulfillment Services in Edwardsville, citing sexual harassment and seeking damages under the Illinois Human Rights Act.
According to the lawsuit, the plaintiff was hired as an employee for Impact Fulfillment Services (IFS) on March 1, 2020, to work at its location in Edwardsville. The lawsuit names Undre Patterson as an employee of IFS and the plaintiff's direct supervisor. Ware claims that between March 1, 2020, and May 5, 2020, Patterson began to have sexually descriptive conversations in the plaintiff's presence, make sexual comments on her appearance and made sexual advances towards her. Ware alleges she informed Patterson that the behavior was inappropriate and unwanted, but Paterson allegedly persisted anyway.
The lawsuit states that on April 27, 2020, the plaintiff was in the presence of IFS' warehouse supervisor when Patterson allegedly came up from behind and groped her in view of the warehouse supervisor. The plaintiff informed the warehouse supervisor of Patterson's behavior, but nothing happened and Patterson continued his campaign of sexual harassment, Ware alleges.
The plaintiff claims that Patterson groped her again the next day, and she notified Human Resources of his behavior. Despite the complaints, IFS did not resolve the issued and continued to schedule the plaintiff to work in Patterson's presence, the suit states.
Ware claims that on May 5, she was terminated because she refused to continue working with Patterson.
She alleges that she has suffered "loss of wages, severe emotional distress, mental anguish, depression in the past and may continue to suffer in the future, she has suffered a loss of enjoyment of a normal life."
Ware is requesting the court enter a judgement in her favor, and award damages in excess of $50,000, plus court costs and attorney fees. She is represented in this case by attorney David Cates of Cates Mahoney, LLC in Swansea.
Madison County Circuit Court case number 2022LA000742