(Waterloo) BlackBerry and its CEO John Giamatteo have asked a U.S. court to dismiss certain allegations by a former employee who says Mr. Giamatteo sexually harassed her and then retaliated against her after she reported the behavior.
In a filing in a Northern California court, the Waterloo, Ont.-based cybersecurity company and Mr. Giamatteo say the allegations by the plaintiff, whose identity has not been revealed, do not have no basis and are filled with “lies and misinterpretations.”
“The allegations made by the complainant fall far short of conduct amounting to sexual harassment or discrimination,” BlackBerry spokeswoman Camilla Scassellati Sforzolini said in an email Wednesday.
The company and Mr. Giamatteo want the court to reject the plaintiff’s allegations suggesting she faced a hostile work environment, discriminatory pay and unpaid wages. They also want allegations of negligent hiring and failure to prevent harassment and discrimination to be dropped.
The complainant, who is a woman of color, previously told The Canadian Press that Mr. Giamatteo “tried to get close to her” and “woo” her, before the company let her go after she had denounced this behavior.
In court filings, the company and Mr. Giamatteo say the plaintiff lost her job at BlackBerry not because she reported harassment, but because she was part of a 200-bet scheme on foot within the company.
They allege she was unfit for a new role because she engaged in “antagonistic and humiliating conduct towards her colleagues”.
A lawyer for the plaintiff pointed out that BlackBerry’s case presents two contradictory reasons for the end of her employment relationship: performance and layoffs.