Wal-Mart lawsuit over gender bias

JOHNSTOWN — A former department manager at the Wal-Mart Distribution Center in Clearfield County, who had an affair with an employee, is claiming gender discrimination against the company.

Helen Masonis of Falls Creek said she was fired for having a relationship with a male employee while several male managers who had affairs with employees were not fired.

Masonis is requesting a federal judge order back pay and employment benefits, compensatory and punitive damages, as well as pay her attorney fees and issue injunctions that would reinstate her and bar further discrimination against her.

The lawsuit filed in U.S. court in Johnstown lists the names of other males and females who had affairs at Wal-Mart. She charges that the males never were disciplined.

Masonis said Wal-Mart’s stated reason for punishing her was that she did not relate details of her affair truthfully, but Masonis said her exit interview with the company demonstrated that she told the truth.

“Wal-Mart treats a situation where a male manager interacts with a female employee differently than when a female manager interacts with a male employee,” she charged.

Wal-Mart spokeswoman Shannon Weber said Monday that Wal-Mart had not been served with the civil charges and, therefore, she could not comment.

“We can’t comment on what we haven’t seen, or on an associate’s [employee’s] departure,” Weber said.

Masonis, who is divorced, stated that Wal-Mart has a nonfraternization policy, barring affairs between workers, but she contended that her affair with another worker did not violate the company’s policy.

The lawsuit claims that Wal-Mart violated the Federal Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act in its dealings with her.

Masonis stated that while she was manager of the Case Lot Area at the Wal-Mart Distribution Center, 100 Wal-Mart Drive, Woodland, she struck up a relationship with a supervisor in another department.

The ensuing investigation into her affair included “two highly embarrassing and offensive closed-door interviews conducted by senior management personnel,” her lawsuit states.

“The claim that [Masonis] was fired for not being truthful was merely a pretext,” according to the lawsuit filed by Pittsburgh attorney John Newborg.

She listed names of male managers who had affairs at the facility, which included two department managers with hourly employees, the general manager with a department manager, a personnel manager with a female under his supervision and a general manager with a woman under his supervision.

None of the males was dismissed or disciplined, she stated.

The case is before U.S. District Judge Kim Gibson.

Mirror Staff Writer Phil Ray

is at 946-7468.