Caesars Entertainment apparently likes to stress the entertainment portion of its name. According to one former employee, a former regional VP of marketing, executives like to “make out” with subordinates after work functions. Now, Jocelyn Agnellini Allison, has filed a lawsuit against the company for being fired after she complained about the incident.
According to the New York Post, Allison says she received retaliation by certain individuals in the upper echelon of Caesars Atlantic City where she was working at the time when she tried to bring the subject up with her superiors. She accuses the venue and its parent company of “fostering a male-dominated culture” that ignored her complaints and allegedly fired her because of her voice.
After the incident, which took place in 2017, Allison’s boss, Kevin Ortzman, allegedly told others in the company that “there will be hell to pay” if he found out who had called him out. Shortly after, Allison was no longer included in “executive team thank you e-mails” and holiday gift-giving activities, was excluded from team meeting and “treated in a hostile and dismissive manner.” She was also accused of abusing her position and compensation privileges, which she denies.
Allison was let go this past February without being given an explanation. However, she asserts that another female employee was also let go at the same time after she had complained about Ortman’s “unlawful sex based contact.”
The suit also alleges that Caesars doesn’t offer enough positions to female staffers, especially in the upper echelon of the company. This underrepresentation, and the company’s alleged discrimination against her, violate the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination, asserts the lawsuit.
The fired executive is seeking an unidentified amount of compensation from two corporate entities owned by Caesars, Caesars Enterprise Services, LLC and Caesars Entertainment Corp., both of which are listed as defendants. However, she isn’t going after Ortzman in the lawsuit.
Caesars has until July 29 to respond to the complaint and has apparently already weighed in. According to information on the case available on PacerMonitor, attorney Kathleen M. McKenna is representing both of the Caesars entities, but no additional details have yet been made available.
