In a lawsuit filed this week in federal court docket in Manhattan, the previous chief working workplace of a authorized know-how firm claims she was fired after trying to train inventory choices valued at over $1 million.
The previous government additionally claims she was recurrently sexually harassed throughout her employment and was urged by superiors to flirt and turn into romantically concerned with prospects.
The plaintiff, Silvia Diaz-Roa, filed the lawsuit towards Hermes Law, a Texas regulation agency, and ClaimDeck, a litigation administration system for insurers and insurance-defense corporations that spun out of Hermes Legislation. The lawsuit additionally names Dwayne Hermes, the founder and CEO of each the regulation agency and the corporate, and Andrea Hermes, the cofounder of the corporate and authorized compliance specialist on the regulation agency.
I emailed Dwayne Hermes asking if he wished to reply however I’ve not heard again from him. The defendants haven’t but filed a solution within the lawsuit.
In her criticism, which you can read here, Diaz-Roa says that she began on the agency as an intern and shortly earned promotions as senior challenge supervisor after which director of innovation.
She says that she and Dwayne Hermes got here up for the thought for ClaimDeck in 2019 and that it was included in 2020. Beginning in 2021, she alleges, she grew to become “the driving drive” behind ClaimDeck, whereas employed by each the regulation agency and the corporate. For ClaimDeck, she grew to become head of product and chief working officer.
In December 2020, Diaz-Roa alleges, the defendants awarded her compensation within the type of choices to buy 58,825 shares of ClaimDeck inventory, or about 10% of its complete shares.
Three years later, after her choices had absolutely vested and have been price greater than $1 million, she alleges that she knowledgeable Dwayne Hermes, together with ClaimDeck’s accountants and legal professional, that she meant to train her proper to buy her choices. Inside weeks of expressing that intent, the defendants fired her with out trigger, she claims, alleging that their precise motive was to deprive her of the compensation she had earned.
Diaz-Roa additionally alleges that she was subjected to sexual harassment throughout her employment. Each Dwayne and Andrea Hermes recurrently inspired her to flirt and use her look to draw prospects, she says. On different events, they inspired her to turn into romantically concerned with “sure people within the trade to learn her employers.”
“Dwayne Hermes particularly fixated on Diaz-Roa’s look, humiliatingly directing her to ‘repair’ her make-up and accusing her of trying ‘drained’ in entrance of different ClaimDeck and Hermes Legislation staff,” the criticism alleges.
Based mostly on these allegations, Diaz-Roa’s criticism states causes of motion for sexual harassment, breach of contract, deprivation of earned compensation, and others, and requests acceptable damages.
