One woman sued Donald Trump’s Miami resort saying she lost her job because she got pregnant.
Two others claimed they were fired after complaining that co-workers sexually harassed them.
And a number of women testified in a lawsuit that Trump himself repeatedly instructed managers to hire younger, prettier workers at his Los Angeles golf club.
The release of a video Friday showing Trump’s sexist remarks in 2005 has created a firestorm of controversy that threatens to derail his campaign. But an ongoing USA TODAY investigation of Trump’s 4,000-plus lawsuits shows that he and his companies have been accused for years of mistreating women. Allegations outlined in at least 20 separate lawsuits accuse Trump and managers at his companies of discriminating against women, ignoring sexual harassment complaints and even participating in the harassment themselves.
The details of these allegations, some not reported until now, suggest that the kinds of lewd and discriminatory actions reported last week may be more prevalent within Trump's organization than previously known.
In one lawsuit, a female supervisor at Trump National Golf Club near Los Angeles said Trump pulled her aside one day to complain about hiring.
“I want you to get some good looking hostesses here,†Trump told Sue Kwiatkowski, she recounted in a sworn statement corroborated by many other employees' testimony. She said he went on to say, “People like to see good looking people when they come in.†Managers acted on Trump’s directive, she and colleagues testified, to hire younger and “prettier†staff and to make sure other female workers were not seen whenever the big boss visited.
Another supervisor testified she refused to fire a female employee even after her boss threatened punishment, citing Trump’s desire for the woman to be fired because she was “fat.â€
One married waitress testified that Trump always flirted with her, asking whenever she served him whether she was “still happily married.†She didn’t like it, but felt powerless to complain about a powerful, famous man like Trump.
The cases involving women are among about 130 employment cases involving Trump’s companies dating back to the 1980s, although many of them involve the individual companies' employees and managers rather than Trump personally. A definitive accounting of women claiming mistreatment by Trump or his companies isn’t possible because many such complaints are resolved internally and never escalate to a lawsuit. And, researchers consistently have found, many women don’t report such workplace behavior at all.
Two such examples are at the heart of two of last week’s explosive stories about Trump. Monday, The Associated Press reported that Trump systematically demeaned women during filming of NBC’s The Apprentice television show, discussing in front of them which ones he’d like to have sex with and asking other men in the room which ones they’d like to have sex with, among other vulgar behavior. Friday, The Washington Post published video of Trump’s bragging, in lewd terms, with Billy Bush about his aggressive sexual advances on Nancy O’Dell, a married television host. None of those women have sued, and it’s unknown whether any of them complained to bosses at NBC or the shows’ producers.
In at least three lawsuits reviewed by USA TODAY, women working for Trump companies allege that’s exactly what they did: they reported sexual discrimination or harassment and they lost their jobs. In several other cases, women described retaliation for making such complaints.
Just this summer, a woman who supervised the Trump Kids Club at the billionaire’s golf resort in Jupiter, Fla., sued Trump saying she endured “persistent, unwelcome sexual advances†by a manager. Erin Breen said she alerted human resources and her supervisor. In court, and in separate complaints to the Florida Commission on Human Relations and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Breen said Trump managers fired her two weeks after she complained.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2016/10/09/trumps-lawsuits-include-20-involving-allegations-mistreating-women-president-republican/91832012/
